Comparative Regionalism and Constitutional Imitations in the Integration Process of Central America

Abstract

This article will present some preliminary conclusions drawn after conducting the first stage of a research, which intends to study the constitutional characteristics of the Integration Process of Central America (in its diachronic and synchronic dimension) by means of assessing its legal and extralegal formants in order to verify if its structure and modality are a result of a specific historical and cultural context with elements of originality and innovation; or if they are a mere consequence of a strict “constitutional imitation” of foreign external models (EU) shaped by the interests of the dominant “criolla” economic elite; or if in addition we are in the presence (in terms of regional integration) of a “symbolic constitutionalization”. This comparative analysis will enable to develop further theory to answer the question of the use of the European Union as an appropriate “tertium comparationis”, as well as to empirically verify the existence of an “Euro-Latin American dialogue” and its corresponding “key words” by focusing on the a cross-comparative approach of the historical formation of the European collective singulars (N. Elias and R. Koselleck) and of its legal constitutional system.