ABSTRACT
The Common Market of the South (Mercosur) is a trading bloc founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It attained early success by tripling intra-regional trade flows during its first seven years, as well as increasing extra-regional trade and attracting larger shares of direct foreign investment. Thereafter, however, its performance declined, its operation stalled and its very survival was questioned by periodical domestic and regional crises (Bouzas 2003; Carranza 2003; Gomez Mera 2005).
