This thesis deals with the interregional relations between the European Union and Mercosur. It is approached as a single case study where the examined case is defined as "the strategic partnership between the European Union and Mercosur in the context of new regionalism". The thesis consists of three main chapters. The first chapter explains the phenomenon of new regionalism and interregionalism and deals with two theoretical approaches to regional integration - neofunctionalist and intergovernmental. The subject of the second chapter is the development of regional integration within Mercosur and the analysis of the relations between the EU and Mercosur from the early 1990's till present. The current negotiations between the two regions are aimed at the conclusion of the Association Agreement creating free trade area and consisting of three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. The negotiations were officially launched in 1999, later suspended in 2004 and re-launched at Madrid Summit in 2010. The thesis seeks to find out how the EU and Mercosur are motivated to sign the agreement and what are the main obstacles blocking the successful conclusion of the negotiation process. To this end, the third chapter analyzes the three pillars of the Association agreement under negotiation paying...

L’année 1919 a été décisive dans l’histoire sociale. En effet, elle fut marquée par la création de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT), issue de la partie XIII du traité de Versailles. Cette institution à vocation universelle se plaçait dans la continuité d'expérimentations et de réflexions menées, depuis le XIXe siècle, sur le Vieux Continent. L’objectif des puissances européennes était de définir un cadre international de règles, communes aux Etats, pour empêcher à la fois les excès de certains patrons, les conflits avec les travailleurs, tout en combattant la pratique du dumping social et en garantissant une concurrence loyale, non seulement entre eux mais aussi à l’échelle internationale. La France joua un rôle majeur dans la rédaction de ces textes et dans la création de l’OIT, chargée de poursuivre ce travail. De ce fait, cette institution dut concilier l’européocentrisme dominant le BIT et sa vocation universelle. La solution apparut, durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, à travers l’interrégionalisme développé par Paul van Zeeland, et que l’institution tenta de mettre en œuvre durant l’après-guerre et la guerre froide. Il s’agissait de créer des regroupements régionaux et de les faire coopérer dans les domaines politique, économique et social pour garantir la paix dans le monde ; l’Europe occidentale devait en être le laboratoire. Cette région, notamment la France, influença donc durablement les réflexions de l’OIT. / The year 1919 was decisive in the social history. Indeed, it was marked by the creation of the International Labour Organization (ILO), resulting from part XIII of the treaty of Versailles. This institution with universal vocation placed itself in continuity of experiments and of carried out reflections, since the 19th century, on the Old continent. The objective of the European powers was to define an international framework of common rules for States, to prevent at the same time excesses of some managers, the conflicts with the workers, while fighting the practice of the social dumping and guaranteeing a fair competition, not only between them but also on an international scale. France played a major role in the writing of these texts and the creation of the ILO, charged to continue this work. So this institution had to reconcile the europeocentrism dominating the International Labour Office and its universal vocation. The solution appeared, during the Second World War, through the interregionalism developed by Paul van Zeeland, and that the institution tried to implement during the post-war period and the cold war. It was a question of creating regional regroupings and of making them cooperate in the policy fields, economic and social to guarantee peace in the world; Western Europe had to be the laboratory about it. This region, in particular France, thus influenced durably the reflections of the ILO.