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Judicial integration in the Americas? A comparison of dispute settlement in NAFTA and MERCOSUR
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Universität Bamberg, Fak. Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Lehrstuhl für Internationale Beziehungen
Abstract
"The influence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on regional integration in Europe is a widely discussed topic in the academic literature. However, outside of Europe, the influence of court-like bodies on integration processes in other regions is much less analysed. Dispute settlement bodies in... view more
"The influence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on regional integration in Europe is a widely discussed topic in the academic literature. However, outside of Europe, the influence of court-like bodies on integration processes in other regions is much less analysed. Dispute settlement bodies in regional integration schemes outside Europe are not as strong as the ECJ, but they may nevertheless influence regional integration. When judging disputes, court-like bodies have to establish case law in order to be legally consistent with their decision-making – even if precedence effects are formally ruled out by the respective treaties. This case law may lead to increasing integration if the treaties are interpreted respectively. In order to explore the influence of court-like bodies on regional integration outside of Europe, this article compares NAFTA's dispute settlement mechanisms on competition and investment with the dispute settlement mechanism of MERCOSUR. The somewhat surprising result is that although MERCOSUR’s dispute settlement mechanism is formally stronger than its counterpart in North America, the latter exercises more influence on the dynamic of regional integration. The reason for this is that due to larger economic interdependence in North America, NAFTA’s dispute settlement mechanism is confronted with far more disputes than its counterpart in the South. This leads to many more possibilities for developing case law and for interpreting the respective treaties. The theoretically important conclusion is that not only the formal rules are important for judicial integration in regional integration schemes, but that only the interaction of legal rules and economic demands leads to dynamic regional integration projects." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
MERCOSUR; Europe; integration; NAFTA; European integration; conflict
Classification
International Relations, International Politics, Foreign Affairs, Development Policy
Law
European Politics
Method
documentation
Free Keywords
dispute settlement; judicial integration; legalisation; regional integration
Document language
English
Publication Year
2009
City
Bamberg
Page/Pages
30 p.
Series
Bamberger Online Papers on Integration Research (BOPIR), 4/2009
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
Data providerThis metadata entry was indexed by the Special Subject Collection Social Sciences, USB Cologne