Latin America-European Union Trade and Investment Relations after the Financial Crisis

Toral, Pablo (2015) Latin America-European Union Trade and Investment Relations after the Financial Crisis. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This article reviews Latin America–Spain relations from 1982 to 2014, with a focus on the financial crisis (2008–2014). The theoretical framework for the study follows rule-oriented constructivism, which regards social activity as a process of interaction among actors mediated by rules. The focus thus falls on rules, rulemaking, and the actors (norm entrepreneurs) who exercise their “normative power” (material or symbolic) to shape these rules. The empirical section of the article analyzes the creation of a “normative Iberoamerican community” constituted by Latin America (the article focuses on Brazil and Mexico) and Spain in the 1980s–1990s and takes the promotion of foreign direct investments as a case study. The article highlights the role of governments and multinational enterprises as “norm entrepreneurs” in the promotion of foreign direct investment within the Iberoamerican community. The Brazilian and Mexican governments hoped to attract Spanish foreign direct investment to gain technology and knowhow and offered Spanish multinational enterprises growing markets. The Spanish government hoped to attract Latin American foreign direct investment during the financial crisis and offered Latin American multinational enterprises a foothold in the European Union. The article concludes that the financial crisis strengthened the Iberoamerican normative community.

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