Collective identity in the andean community: An institutional account

Abstract

This article assesses the ways in which regional institutions, understood as norms and institutional bodies, contribute to the formation of collective identity in the Andean Community (AC). Departing from the previous existence of an Andean identity, grounded on historical and cultural issues, the paper takes three case studies to show the terms in which regional institutions contribute to the formation of three dimensions of collective identity in the AC, namely, the cultural, the ideological and the inter-group dimensions. The paper shows that although ideas of an Andean collective identity that state representatives and Andean General Secretariat (AGS) bureaucrats hold are very diverse, the AC institutional framework provides a strong basis for the emergence of collective identity among member states. Three explanations are provided in this regard: First, the benefits obtained from Andean norms and regional institutional organisms make states identify with the regionalist project and with each other. Second, regional organisms provide spaces for state interaction where state representatives learn from each other and identify between them. Third, the AGS operates as an independent agent that exerts pressure over member states to keep the pace of regionalism. The paper argues that these explanations account for an effect of ‘institutional inertia’ that has helped to maintain the AC regionalist project.