Looking like a common market: the EU as a model for Andean economic integration

In development studies, isomorphic mimicry is the process by which states imitate the appearance of successful organizational structures. We draw on this concept to depart from conventional critics of the Andean Community for not reaching a level of economic integration like the European Union. Rather than describing the Andean regional integration process as a “bad copy” of its European counterpart, we argue that by imitating the latter’s organizational structure, member states can signal their political and ideological preferences. More precisely, in the contemporary legal imagination, the European Union’s legal form embodies a supranational legal order that works as an economic constitution to convey stability and predictability, thus upholding a market-based order. Hence, imitating that legal form allows Andean Community members to signal adherence to an organizational structure that looks like an economic constitution.