Mercosur caught between lofty ambitions and modest achievements: a critical analysisof 16 years of audiovisual policy-making

This paper presents a critical analysis of Mercosur’s audiovisual policy. It is based on qualitative document analysis combined with a goal-means tree analysis methodology. The confrontation of the goals and the means in this manner makes it possible to identify structural problems in the development of RECAM, which is the Specialized Meeting of Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities of Mercosur and Associated States. Expert interviews and an examination of the theory relating to supranational challenges and the tensions between the cultural and economic aspects of audiovisual activities made it further possible to assess the nature of Mercosur policies and how they affect the results achieved. Although it has high aspirations, RECAM demonstrates a weak strategic development with a clearly identifiable mismatch between the goals and the means. The proposed economic integration was not achieved and the implemented measures were focused on cultural actions that led to a purely symbolic integration.