Regional economic integration can best be defined as an agreement between groups of countries in a geographic region, to reduce and ultimately remove tariff and nontariff barriers to the free flow of goods. Last section presents a preliminary comparative scheme for the analysis of the five cases here examined. Monitoring of regional economic integration processes 24112016 related monitoring should take place on different levels 1. Caribbean governments can no longer protect the regional manufacturers by restricting extraregional imports, as such. The benefits of regional economic integration for developing countries in africa. Key questions are why and under which conditions states decide to transfer. It represents case study of the concept of political integration appearing in the theory of neofunctionalism. Regional integration could have as its objective political or economic goals. Lessons for other african construction industries ebunoluwa bimbola akinrata department of quantity surveying, federal university of technology akure, ondo state, p. Countries are better able to manage the social and economic challenges of globalization by working together.
Keyuanzou, in chinaasian relations and international law, 2009. Compliance translation of regional agreements into national regulations and. The other sections present the practice of regional security partnership in different areas of the contemporary world, namely in europe, asia, and africa. Africa is infested with the deepest levels of poverty, lowest share of world trade, and weakest development of. Effective regional integration will increase competition, reduce private transaction costs, enable firms to exploit economies of scale, encourage inward foreign investment and facilitate macroeconomic policy.
Clearly, the process of european integration within the ec has gone further than integration in other regional settings. This paper is a qualitative research of the concept of political integration. This paper examines the history of regional integration in africa, what has. An arrangement for enhancing cooperation through regional rules and institutions entered into by states of the same region. The first section traces the origin and formation of the au, examines the rationale for regional integration, its membership, objectives, organs, as well as the successes and weaknesses of the au. Overview of integration across the following areas. Regional integration is a process in which neighboring states enter into an agreement in order. Regional integration among developing countries is part of a wider strategy to promote equitable growth and is not an end in itself. A relatively loose definition may be better for comparative studies. Regional integration in africa world trade organization.
Yet, only the eu has been able to achieve a relatively deep level of integration during the last fifty years, while sadc has not been able to proceed in its. The concept of integration as an analytical tool and as a. If there is a single sovereign national state sns that has not yet joined some transnational regional organization tro. Both descriptive and quantitative analyses are used to this end. Theories and approaches introduction the devastation and havoc brought by world war ii forced politicians, thinkers and humanists to think seriously about the means that should be adopted in the relations among the nations that could significantly reduce the. Economic integration is an economic arrangement between different regions, marked by the reduction or elimination of trade barriers and the coordination of monetary and fiscal policies. Regional economic integration concept on south african. Definition of terms regional a bloc or geographic regionarea that have things in common. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving broader socio. Pdf this article proposes a discursive constructionist approach and methodology for studying regional integration and related issues, such as. Although integration processes are long term in naturethey take at least a generationthe political process in democratic societies requires that policies bear fruit within much shorter timeframes.
There are four main types of regional economic integration. States differ in their size and in the power that they possess. Regional economic integration concept on south african construction industry. So came the concept of sovereignty under attack that had put the nationstate as the highest point of citizens allegiance. The importance of regional economic integration is a very pertinent issue in africa, particularly in light of existing political and economic weaknesses. Regional integration is a process in which neighboring states enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. Regional integration is the key to achieve positive outcomes for africas youth development, such as youth skills development, best practices.
Overall development goal of the greater pearl river delta gprd region is to the emergence jointly as the most dynamic, internationally competitive, worldclass city cluster of the asiapacific region. Regional integration allows countries to overcome these costly divisions integrating goods, services and factors markets, thus facilitating the flow of trade, capital, energy, people and ideas. Regional integration has been defined as the process through which independent. However, it seems fair to say that collective decisionmaking is an important aspect of all regional integration efforts. If goods are sufficiently strong substitutes, regional trade agreements will cause the demand for third party goods to decrease, which will drive down prices. But, rapid discordant economic integration resulted social and environmental. Bilateral agreement trade agreement between two companies or countries. Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government the central or federal government with regional governments provincial, state, cantonal, territorial or other subunit governments in a single political system.
Regional integration eclac digital repository cepal. Dictionary term of the day articles subjects businessdictionary business dictionary dictionary toggle navigation. Chapter 3 of the report presents the main findings and policy recommendations. Rarely have the concepts of regional integration and cooperation come up as. Regional integration is a process in which neighboring states enter into an agreement in order to upgrade. Membership of a regional integration arrangement is a political choice of any one country, whether based on political, social, geographic and or economic considerations. It implies the elimination of economic boarders between countries.
Regional manufacturers have improved their products and services, and this has made it possible for them to compete with producers in developed countries. Its distinctive feature, exemplified in the founding example of modern federalism by the united states under the constitution of 1787, is a. Cornett and others published regional integration and regional development. Community eac within the context of regional integration chapter 1, and analyses the impact of eac regional integration on womens wellbeing with a focus on womens employment chapter 2. Both the eu and sadc have been able to attract new members regularly during their operation. Regional integration in europe was consolidated in the treaty on the european union the maastricht treaty, which came into force in november 1993 and established the european union. Regional integration operates in between the two, in the sense that it promotes ideas of active and voluntary cooperation among nationstates within a specified geographic area towards removing or. Regional economic integration has enabled countries to focus on issues that are relevant to their stage of development as well as encourage trade between neighbors. In all parts of the world regional integration was seen as a route towards a fairer, more inclusive globalization.
Abstract in lieu of an abstract, below is the essays first paragraph. Most of the early attempts at regional trade agreements rtas in the 1950s and 1960s, many of them among developing countries, met with little success. Regional integration and sustainable development in hong kong. Implementation of regional economic integration strategies mainly measures on the regional level, e. Although a regional mechanism called the asian pacific economic cooperation apec 1 was established in 1989 to work towards building closer economic ties among its members, its functioning has been restricted to that of an economic forum.
For example, the small size of a state can play an important role in the decision to enter a. Regional integration in southern africa overview of recent developments lolette kritzingervan niekerk emmanuel pinto moreira december 2002 the findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. Caribbean regional integration regional integration and cooperation long seen as critical to caribbean development, pre and post independence unsuccessful attempt at political union west indies federation 195862 parallel and intersecting paths of economic integration and institutional poolingcooperation economic integration. The role of regional integration in strengthening democracy and political institutions 198 regionalism and the nationstate 201 regional integration to deal with outside threats and regional hegemons regional integration and negotiations with the outside world notes 206 chapter 8. Regional integration theory seeks to explain the establishment and development of regional international organizations. Concepts, measurements and a bit of theory1 philippe c. Concept note assessing regional integration in africa ix. Ssa 47 countries are small and least developed, according to unctads definition. The north atlantic area as a partial international system, international organization. This is the most basic form of economic cooperation. That calls for better integration of social and economic policies in the process of regional integration. Usually integration involves one or more written agreements that describe the areas of cooperation in detail, as well as some coordinating bodies representing the countries involved. Regional integration refers to various types of political and economic agreements that form closer ties between sovereign countries. Before we enunciate the several reasons why this is so, we need to be clear regarding the concept.
Regional integration is a process in which countries enter into a regional agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through regional structure and rules. Central to it was the development of devices and processes for arriving at collective decisions by means other than autonomous action by national governments ibid 5. Understanding on the interpretation of article xxiv of the general agreement on tariffs. This paper examines the history of regional integration in africa, what has motivated it, the different initiatives that african governments have pursued, the nature of the integration process, and the current challenges. Regional integration is the process by which two or more nationstates agree to cooperate and work closely together to achieve peace, stability and wealth. Member countries remove all barriers to trade between. Regional economic integration in east asia comparatively lags behind. Mwasha abstract regional economic integration rei refers to the commercial policy of discriminatively reducing or eliminating trade barriers only between the states joining together. To achieve this goal harmonious regional integration towards sustainable development is decisive. Definition of economic integration the combination of several national economies into a larger territorial unit. One of the first definitions of the concept of integration in the context of regional integration theory and one that has been widely used in the literature is the concept of security community of deutsch et al. These examples show that regional integration today holds a notable attraction all over the globe. As integration policies are adopted and implemented in practice, another aspect of the logic of policymaking emerges. The european free trade association is a free trade bloc of four countries iceland, liechtenstein.
Definition of terms multilateral agreement trade agreement. Lindberg considered his own concept of integration more cautious than that of haas. The research focus could be identified as the concept of political integration, in the perspective of the theory of neofunctionalism. Regional integration can be promoted through common physical and institutional infrastructure. Schmitter european university institute january 2007 regionalism across national borders has become a global phenomenon.