This comparative book investigates the impact that the EU has on regionalization elsewhere through its inter-regional relations. Covering agriculture, trade, ASEAN, NAFTA, MERCOSUR and Commonwealth amongst other topics, it investigates whether the EU contributes directly, as well as indirectly, to increased regional integration in different parts of the world.
This text examines regionalism from the perspective of developing countries. It presents a comprehensive account of existing theory and empirical results and incorporates the findings of formal analyses ofthe politics and dynamics of regionalism.
This volume features up-to-date studies of regional integration efforts in all major parts of the world, especially North America, South America, and East Asia. Comparisons are drawn between these efforts and those made in the EU, where integration has progressed much further. The book asks: what explains the variation in achievements? What kind of agreements and institutions are needed to produce regional integration? Is 'pooling and delegation' of sovereignty necessary to overcome 'collective action problems'? How important is regional leadership? This work is a major new contribution to the literature on regional integration, and will appeal to theorists, policymakers, students and other readers concerned about world developments. It will also be of value to courses covering international political economy, international relations and regional integration, at both undergraduate and graduate level.
Das internationale politische System hat sich gerade in letzter Zeit zunehmend verändert. Im Rahmen des atomaren Gleichgewichts der Grossmächte zeichnet sich eine zunehmend auf geographische Regionen und Einheiten zukommende regionale politische Verantwortung ab. In Band 3 und 4 der Reihe «Völkerrecht und Internationale Politik» haben hochqualifizierte Spezialisten versucht, die Fragen der Regionalisierung der Weltpolitik sowohl in theoretischer als auch in praktischer Sicht herauszuarbeiten. Mit diesem Band wird nun als wertvolle Ergänzung eine Zusammenstellung der neuesten Literatur zur Regionalismusforschung vorgelegt.
Based on cutting-edge research, this edited volume examines how citizens and political elites perceive the legitimacy of regional integration in Europe and the Americas. It analyses public opinion and political discourse on the EU, NAFTA and MERCOSUR, arguing that legitimation patterns shape the development of regional governance.
The European Union might be the most prominent example of regional integration but it is by far not the only one. The importance of regional integration in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and even in the Pacific Islands region is constantly growing. All these regions aspire for more than pure economic cooperation. In addition to intensified economic cooperation, political, legal and cultural aspects are important factors as well that form a Mixtum Compositum of regional integration elements. The present volume discusses these different components of regional integration in theoretical perspective and in a policy-oriented approach. It contributes to comparative regional integration studies through theoretical analysis and case studies from different regions. Elements of Regional Integration presents the main features of regional integration in an interdisciplinary manner. It addresses scholars of political sciences, economics and law as well as students and is suited as accompanying material for courses.
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism - the first of its kind - offers a systematic and wide-ranging survey of the scholarship on regionalism, regionalization, and regional governance. Unpacking the major debates, leading authors of the field synthesize the state of the art, provide a guide to the comparative study of regionalism, and identify future avenues of research. Twenty-seven chapters review the theoretical and empirical scholarship with regard to the emergence of regionalism, the institutional design of regional organizations and issue-specific governance, as well as the effects of regionalism and its relationship with processes of regionalization. The authors explore theories of cooperation, integration, and diffusion explaining the rise and the different forms of regionalism. The handbook also discusses the state of the art on the world regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Eurasia, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Various chapters survey the literature on regional governance in major issue areas such as security and peace, trade and finance, environment, migration, social and gender policies, as well as democracy and human rights. Finally, the handbook engages in cross-regional comparisons with regard to institutional design, dispute settlement, identities and communities, legitimacy and democracy, as well as inter- and transregionalism.
Over the past decade, international economic liberalization has been pursued through both multilateral and regional arrangements. In the Uruguay Round, more than one hundred governments pledged their commitment to greater open trade in goods and services, and established new rules under the enforcement of the World Trade Organization. At the same time, however, many regional arrangements have been negotiated--including the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Nonetheless, controversy still rages about these arrangements. Are regional arrangements stumbling blocks or, in fact building blocks for a more integrated and successful international economy? In this book, Robert A. Lawrence addresses this question and explains both sides of the debate. A volume of Brookings' Integrating National Economies Series
Many publications focus on a narrow set of regional organizations or display a strong bias towards the European Union as the supposedly most sophisticated integration scheme. This book, in contrast, goes beyond Europe and takes a comparative approach across space and time to look at regional organizations in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
The global 'financial' crisis at the turn of the decade has accelerated changes in the relative standing of major regions. As both the US and Eurozone economies have confronted a series of setbacks and struggles to find their second breath, so Asia, Latin America and even Africa have picked up the slack and have been able to maintain high levels of growth. The resilience of the Global South questions whether we are witnessing an evolution towards a regional rebalancing or even global restructuring. This responding volume has four interrelated topics. It explores the transformation taking place in/with regard to the financing of development in the Global South and the apparition of new players in the field. The emergence of 'New Regionalisms' in the South and the usefulness of these experiences for comparative studies of regional relationship is explicated. It turns its attention to new forms of transnational governance that are emerging and the role that a novelty of actors play in this 'new multilateralism'. Finally, it looks into the implications of this trio of novel directions and players for analyses and policies.
