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The Working Papers Series on Comparative Regional Integration Studies is devoted to the study of regional integration from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. It covers theory, empirical work and policy analysis, and includes contributions on the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of co-operation at the level of both macro-regions and micro-regions. While committed to the highest academic standards, the series aims to be accessible to policy-makers and practitioners and seeks to encourage informed debate on comparative regional integration.
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03.10.05
O-2005/13: Inter-regionalism and the Future of Multilateralism
By: Luk Van Langenhove and Ana-Cristina Costea
In this paper it will be argued that we are currently witnessing a transition from theclassical Westphalian world order to a world order where regions – next to states –play a central role and where processes of regional integration increasingly shapeinternational relations. This transition is linked to a series of transformations in thenature and scope of regional integration processes. After a first generation ofregional integration that focussed primarily upon trade and regional integration, asecond generation – often referred to as ‘new regionalism’ – broadened regionalintegration to internal policies and regulations. Today, a third generation ofregionalism is emerging that emphasises the role of regions as global actors. Thisthird generation regional integration can lead towards a new ‘regional world order’that is not post-Westphalian but rather neo-Westphalian as it still builds upon statesas key actors but in a broader regional framework. Viewed from a U.N. perspective,this emergent world-order opens possibilities to re-think multilateralism into whatHettne (2003) has called “multiregionalism”. But for this to happen, the U.N. willhave to find ways to better incorporate regions and regional integrations in it’sfunctioning. The institutionalisation of the regional-global co-operation in thesecurity field represents a first step on this road.
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This paper gives an overview of recent developments in the process of Asian economicintegration. A large part will focus on the integration initiatives undertaken within theframework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations... By: Ludo Cuyvers , Philippe De Lombaerde and Stijn Verherstraeten
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Regional integration has been seen in Africa as a means of encouraging trade and securingeconomies of scale. This paper examines in detail the prospects and challenges for tradeexpansion in the two most prominent arrangements in... By: Padamja Khandelwal
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In its recent past Europe has seen the opening up of several internal borders and with theaccession of new members states in Central and Eastern Europe to the European Unionfurther borders are bound to fall. This fast unexpected... By: Thiess Buettner and Johannes Rincke
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Throughout history, human societies of every kind have sought, above all, to ensure their ownsafety. The building of an ‘architecture of peace’ has become the institutional aspiration throughwhich humanity might avoid warfare and... By: Kennedy Graham
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The subject of this lecture – ‘Global Governance: The Cultural Dimension’ was chosen fortwo reasons. Because global governance is the defining feature of our age, and because itscultural dimension will, with the passage of time,... By: Kennedy Graham
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Adequate monitoring tools for regional integration processes would allow better (regional) policydesign and implementation, better scrutiny and participation by all stakeholders and affected groupsand individuals, as well as more... By: Philippe De Lombaerde & Luk Van Langenhove
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The analysis of the existence and the nature of spillover effects of foreign direct investment on theactivity and efficiency of domestic firms experienced a major qualitative step forward thanks to theavailability and recent... By: Philippe De Lombaerde & Erika B. Pedraza Guevara
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Ces dernières années, la problématique de l’intégration monétaire s’est positionnée au centre des grands débats en économie et finance internationales. L’unification monétaire européenne a évidemment joué un rôle crucial comme... By: Philippe De Lombaerde & Liliana Lizarazo
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The record on Pacific regionalism suggests cautious optimism about the prospects for better provision of public goods in the face of increasing globalization.Contradictions, especially cultural ones, between Pacific Island... By: William Sutherland
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This paper examines the process of provincial convergence that has takenplace in Spain between 1985 and 2002. By taking labour productivity as its variable ofanalysis, the paper estimates the so-called “classical” models of... By: José Villaverde Castro
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Over the last decades, the process of globalization appears to have gained momentum. This process has been characterised by a number of parallel developments:
(1) the integration of the world economy: world trade and investment... By: San Bilal
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Although regionalism is a long-standing feature in international relations only since the 1960sand more emphatically since late 1980s scholars have shown a dedicated interest in thephenomenon. The literature is nonetheless... By: Rodrigo Tavares
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The reform of higher education in Europe in the wake of the Bologna Declaration can on theone hand be seen as an effort by the European political world to construct some kind ofregional public good in this field.
On the other... By: Frank Naert
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The emergence of the post-Westphalian state has altered the security environment facing thestates of the Atlantic Community. It has cast into doubt not only the preexisting definition of asecurity threat, but the way in which... By: Emil Kirchner and James Sperling
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The European Union has for long been regarded as a political light-weight ininternational relations, explained in large part by the absence of a common foreignpolicy and a common defence and security policy. As a political... By: Mary Farrell
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The presentation wants to link three issues : (i) human security, (ii) regionalintegration and (iii) African development. The main argument is that human security needs to be looked at a regional rather than national level in... By: Luk Van Langenhove
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Public services are a key facet of everyday life for all citizens and societies, so it issurprising that only scant attention has been paid to the emergence of the newapproaches to them in an increasingly integrated EU. We... By: Judith Clifton, Daniel Diaz Fuentes and Francisco Comín
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This paper shows to what extent the political implications of “culture wars” in post-Cold WarTurkey have been influential on a full consolidation of Turkish democracy. In particular, Iwill reconsider the relationship between... By: Yilmaz Çolak
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La tendencia simultánea hacia la descentralización, la integración regional y laglobalización ha producido, no solamente en Colombia, una creciente tensión entre losdiferentes niveles de toma de decisiones. Cada vez más son... By: Philippe De Lombaerde
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This paper is intended to complement classifications of regional integration processes madeaccording to individual descriptive categories, by considering regional systems as wholes inthe broader perspective of governance. This... By: Edward Best
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This study investigates dynamic processes of citizenship formation in the Republic of Cyprus(ROC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the effects of Cyprus’accession to the European Union (EU) on these... By: Yilmaz Çolak
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Regional integration has acquired several meanings as successive waves ofregionalism occurred during the last half century. After the Second World War, a firstwave of regionalization focused on trade liberalization between... By: Luk Van Langenhove, Ana-Cristina Costea and Brigid Gavin
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The paper attempts to shed light on Vietnam’s foreign policy design towards China as it translatesinto subregional economic cooperation schemes in the Mekong Basin, most importantly theGreater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The GMS is... By: Oliver Hensengerth
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In our globalised world, societies are affected more and more extensively and deeplyby events of other societies. Debates on globalisation raise questions regarding theappropriate political response for dealing with both its... By: Luk Van Langenhove
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This paper combines two sets of arguments in order to examine the choice betweendifferent types of regional agreements. First, Ethier (1998, 1999) argues that the new‘open regionalism’ should be viewed, not as affecting... By: Maurice Schiff
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The growth in intra-regional trade has been one of the dominant features of the world economyin the last years. The statistical indicators which are commonly used in order to measure thisphenomenon (the intra-regional trade share... By: Lelio Iapadre
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For some time now, the Central and Eastern European countries have formed a region, which cancount on special attention in Flemish foreign policy. The roots of Flemish active policy with regard tothe region go back to the... By: Yvan Vanden Berghe, Maarten Van Alstein and Lina Neeb
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In the face of Africa’s multiple security threats, integration and regionalisationendeavours are increasingly seen as providing opportunities for establishingsustainable economic growth, peace and stability, and securing... By: George Wachira
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Whether poor economies tend to converge towards rich ones or else to divergeover time is an issue that has attracted the attention of policy-makers andacademics alike for some decades. Economic convergence or divergence is a... By: José Villaverde Castro
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On 20 May 2002, East Timor became a newly independent state following onfrom the 24 years of Indonesia’s illegal occupation, the referendum of 30August 1999, and the UN’s Transitional Administration in East Timor. Thepattern of... By: Katsumi Ishizuka
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This paper focuses on one of the most interesting cross-border regions in Africa, the so-calledMaputo corridor. For more than a century the Maputo corridor has been an informal crossbordermicro-region, constructed by millions of... By: Fredrik Söderbaum
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This paper proposes a constructionist and discursive approach and methodology for studyingregional integration and related issues, such as cooperation between states, the formation oftransnational regions as actors in governance,... By: Nikki Slocum and Luk Van Langenhove
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In 1991, a Conference was held in London regarding the launching of the North American FreeTrade Agreement (NAFTA). A member of the audience asked the speaker if he consideredwhether there was any chance for the NAFTA to be like... By: Alejandro Chanona
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In this paper we use data from 17 African nations in order to investigate the hypothesis that monetary union– represented in this case by the CFA Franc Zone – augments the extent of macroeconomic integration indeveloping... By: David Fielding and Kalvinder Shields
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This paper was presented at the Second Orientation Session on the Negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAS), ACP House, 2 July 2003.
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The proliferation of regional blocs has led to extensive research on regional integration arrangements(RIAs) in general and the European Union (EU) in particular. Yet, there is little work that analyses theintegration process... By: Mehmet Ugur
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Regional integration (RI) occupies a prominent place in the Cotonou Agreement, bothas a means and as an end. Further and deeper RI is seen as an important vehicle forreaching higher levels of development for ACP countries and,... By: Philippe De Lombaerde
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Colombia has been suffering from internal violence for more than four decades. Drug- traffickers,guerrillas and paramilitaries have deeply undermined the macroeconomic performances of thecountry, in spite of its richness in... By: Roberto Francia
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L'Accord de Cotonou, signé en 2000 par les pays ACP et l'UE, prévoyaitl'établissement d'accords de partenariat économique régionaux en remplacement despréférences commerciales non-réciproques que l'UE avait consenties en vertu... By: Mary Farrell
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This paper argues that, notwithstanding the different meanings attributed to theconcept of region, and notwithstanding the different ways in which regionalintegration manifestates itself, there is a meaningful essence to ‘region’... By: Luk Van Langenhove
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This paper examines the European Union’s (EU’s) economic relations with the WesternBalkans (WB) in the light of the emerging debate on international public goods. Thepaper argues that the EU’s philanthropic approach to transition... By: Mehmet Ugur
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Provisions in RTAs dealing with investment, competition, trade facilitation and governmentprocurement commonly go beyond provisions in the WTO or, in the case of government procurement,adopt provisions substantially similar to... By: Ken Heydon
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The concept of (regional) economic integration refers both to a state of affairs and a process(Balassa, 1961).1 In this contribution we will refer to integration seen as a gradual process.Both in terms of the agenda of the... By: Philippe De Lombaerde
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Until 1989, the Asia-Pacific region lacked any formal or inter-governmentalarrangement for regional economic cooperation. Thirteen years on, the situation hasaltered dramatically. Today, the Asia-Pacific is a region where a... By: Helen E.S. Nesadurai
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I do not mean to deliver here today another "Bruges speech", but just to exchangecandid views with research fellows whose expertise is so precious for our policythinkingand our policy-making.
Economists are all very fond of... By: Pierre Defraigne
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