Integração regional e democracia participativa no Mercosul: uma análise sobre o Mercosul social e participativo

Abstract

This dissertation paper analyzes the social dimension in the Regional Integration Process through participatory democracy. In this regard, we go through the historical background of integration and transformations that happened in the forms of South America’s government, until the arrival of democracy. In general, the South American’s countries were subject to social upheavals and military coups, but in the mid-1980s, the region initiated the re-democratization period. Democracy has been considered as an important factor to bring better socio-economic conditions to the Southern Cone, so it is necessary that citizens become participants in this process. In this research will be analyzed how the Mercosur acts in a creating policies for realization of popular participation, representing a maturing of the block so that the social issue is more debated, finding in the Mercosur Social and Participative incentive for greater social participation, it will be performed a study of the social initiatives of the block. By presenting the theoretical basis of regional integration, it was demonstrate the applicability of regional integration’s theories, the Functionalism and Neofunctionalism to explain the block’s case. Firstly this study aims to analyze Mercosur’s social measures, we aim to investigate how these initiatives contribute to the deepening of the social dimension of the block.