Latin America has been pursuing intense structural reforms since the mid-1980s. The reforms have been a primary instrument for achieving the development goals of stable and higher rates of economic growth, more social equity, and a solid democratic setting. The region has advanced on all three fronts, but much more needs to be done.
Bridges for Development explores options to strengthen policies and institutions for deepening structural reforms in all areas of development through trade and integration. Making advances in these areas is critical because the multilateral negotiations in the Doha Development Round are contingent on the complex dynamics of worldwide consensus -- and Latin America's capacity to adequately represent its interests in terms of determining the direction of unilateral policy and regional initiatives.
However, as the book points out, it might be said that the "easy"stages of unilateral trade and regional integration are over; the next steps toward consolidation will require countries to redouble their political will to confront difficult challenges as well as to refine policies, build stronger institutional structures to support them, and work better with civil society. The wave of market opening and regionalism in the 1990s has provided new opportunities in these areas.
