In Latin America and the Caribbean despite the failure of integration over the past two decades old groups are being revitalised and new ones being formed. They include; the Andean Pact, the Central American Common Market (CACM), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and MERCOSUR. Most of these groups have fairly specific timetables with the mid-1990s being targeted as the time for the consolidation of collective structures. The objective of this study is to use MERCOSUR as a case study in order to determine whether the background conditions that are normally postulated as necessary for successful integration exist.