Facilitated governance in Mercosur: policy transfer and integration in education, health, and migration policies

Abstract

This article researches the role of Mercosur’s institutions in the process of policy transfer among member states in three specific areas: education, health and migration. The main argument is that these institutions became public policy-making forums acting as policy transfer facilitators in the empirical cases studied. This article aims to contribute to the development of empirical studies on public policy transfer in regional integration processes. Regional trading blocs promote the articulation of ideas and experience exchange among public policy managers. The methodology applied to this study involves the analysis of Mercosur’s official documents and interviews. Despite its intergovernmental nature and its low institutionalization, Mercosur has played an important role in national policy-making in education, health and migration.

Keywords:
Mercosur; policy transfer; migration policy; educational policy.