ABSTRACT

This chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the European Union (EU) interregional cooperation policies in Central America. It presents an overview of the theoretical issues regarding the EU as normative power. The chapter discusses methodological matters, and describes the study sample. It examines the empirical findings by tracing the attitudinal and value changes in the ideational structure of the Central American political elites. In any event, the characterization of EU policies as captured in the chapter points to the embracement of norms and ideas that Normative power (NPE) entails. It critically assesses the impact of the EU's normative power on that region within its Programa de Apoyo a la Integration Regional Centroamericana (PAIRCA). The chapter examines that PAIRCA aims first, at the institutional consolidation of the System of Central American Integration (SICA); and second, at increasing civil society's 'capabilities and the improvement of the mechanisms for its participation' in the process.