Intraregional mobility and free movement in Mercosur: an interplay between state-led implementation and subnational migrant practices

This article examines the facilitation of internal mobility as a pillar of regional integration, focusing on the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Drawing on New and Comparative Regionalism theories, it investigates how bottom-up dynamics at the subnational level interact with supranational objectives of regional free movement in Mercosur. Through document analysis and 26 stakeholder interviews with national and regional institutions, as well as civil society organisations, it reveals challenges in the state-led implementation of the Mercosur free movement framework, including the absence of a right of entry in the agreements, the ineffective implementation of certain agreements, disagreements between member states impeding efforts to strengthen the existing framework and, lastly, discriminatory practices and arbitrary rejections at internal borders. Nevertheless, some of these limitations are addressed and partially mitigated by bottom-up migrant practices and traditional mobility in border regions. Cross-border interactions and mobility in subnational border regions thus represent key dimensions of regional free movement and integration. Thereby, the article underscores the importance of a universal definition of regional free movement that integrates historical particularities and mobility dynamics beyond the European conceptualisation.