Globalization And Regional Integration

This title was first published in 2002: Anthony Bende-Nabende focuses on the ongoing globalization process, which has sparked an unprecedented world-wide debate. He provides a one-stop centre for a balanced coverage of the theoretical, empirical and policy issues linking globalization with foreign direct investment, regional economic integration, and economic growth and sustainable development. This stimulating book comprehensively explores the theoretical and empirical literature inter-linking the aforementioned factors from the anti-globalization activists’ viewpoint, and from the pro-globalization proponents’ perspective. It proposes policies that individual countries should pursue, based on the recognition that globalization generates both positive and negative effects. These comprise policies required to maximise the economic benefits globalization may generate, and those that aim to eliminate or at least minimize the negative development-oriented effects globalization may engender and, hence, to propel sustainable development. The book will be an essential guide for students, academics and those involved in international economics, environmental studies, international relations, and growth and development studies.

The GATT/WTO system has been founded on the fundamental principle of non-discrimation. However, the system has also allowed exceptional cases to this principle through several arrangements. The leading examples of these cases are Regional Integration Agreements (RIAs). The concept of regionalization, is associated with the development of the institutional conditions for the shift of goods and production between countries. In the center of the regionalization process there is a function of integration groups, which currently are of great importance in the world economy. The number, size, and degree of relationships between countries which participate in integration agreements make it an important phenomenon and unique feature of the current phase of globalization There are also many different attitudes on the relationship between globalization and regionalism (integration). Some join them, other contradict. Firstly, regionalism and globalization mutually support themselves in the sense that regionalism is often the stage of globalization. Regionalization may indeed by stimulating the local markets and by creating a competitive environment in the region enhance microeconomic forces necessary for responding to the needs of globalization. However, there are important integration features for the defense against globalization as a process of differentiating and marginalizing some societies. In the case of integration we can count on a better protection against volatility of financial markets and againt monetary crisis

The GATT/WTO system has been founded on the fundamental principle of non- discrimation. However, the system has also allowed exceptional cases to this principle through several arrangements. The leading examples of these cases are Regional Integration Agreements (RIAs).The concept of regionalization, is associated with the development of the institutional conditions for the shift of goods and production between countries. In the center of the regionalization process there is a function of integration groups, which currently are of great importance in the world economy. The number, size, and degree of relationships between countries which participate in integration agreements make it an important phenomenon and unique feature of the current phase of globalization There are also many different attitudes on the relationship between globalization and regionalism (integration). Some join them, other contradict. Regionalism and globalization mutually support themselves in the sense that regionalism is often the stage of globalization.Regionalization may indeed by stimulating the local markets and by creating a competitive environment in the region enhance microeconomic forces necessary for responding to the needs of globalization. However, there are important integration features for the defense against globalization as a process of differentiating and marginalizing some societies. In the case of integration we can count on a better protection against volatility of financial markets and against monetary crisis.

An assessment of the extent to which increased global and regional integration has changed the functioning of the world economy. With contributions from both academics and professionals, it analyses the implications for global trade, relocation of production, structural changes and the international transmission of shocks.

Regional trade agreements have expanded exponentially over the past decade, and have become a significant, if controversial, factor in the expanse of economic globalization. Social Regionalism in the Global Economy attempts to take a fresh, interdisciplinary approach to addressing labour regulation by drawing upon insights from industrial relations, comparative capitalism, and new governance schools of thought. It stands for the proposition that an interdisciplinary study of regional regulation holds the potential to offer a fuller account of social regionalism. Its focus is to consider how institutions and labour market actors reconstruct and renegotiate regulatory space in a changing economic environment characterized by regional impulses. It argues that there is a dynamic interplay between institutions and actors of social regulation. This interplay occurs at many levels. The book therefore maps both how actors shape institutions as well as how institutions shape social actors’ ability to affect regulatory processes. The editors bring together leading international specialists willing to move beyond textual analyses of regional agreements to offer alternative accounts of regional integration. The work emphasizes that institutional context and social actors at multiple governance levels are integral to the progressive construction and regulation of regional space. It further contributes to the literature by combining insights from overlooked regional entities in transition and developing countries with original analyses from the European Union and the NAFTA. These aims will be achieved by combining original research that is empirically grounded with theoretically informed analysis.

This scholarly and interdisciplinary volume sheds much needed light on the realtionship between national policies, regional integration patterns and the wider global setting. It covers regional patterns in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Individual chapters focus on topics ranging from industrial or financial policies to social welfare regimes, as well as broader assessments and comparisons of regional arrangements in a global context. The chapters point to the diversity of regional patterns in the world economy and the continuing importance of national regulatory structures, yet they also point to the common pressures of globalisation felt by all, especially in the domain of capital markets. With broad coverage and clear but sophisticated analysis this new book will be vital reading to all those seeking to clarify their understanding of the contemporary regional/global paradox.

After two centuries of nation-building, the world has entered an era of region-building in search of political stability, cultural cohesion, and socio-economic development. Nations involved in the regional structures and integration schemes that are emerging in most regions of the world are deepening their ambitions, with Europe's integration experience often used as an experimental template or theoretical model. Volume I provides a political-analytical framework for recognizing the central role of the European Union not only as a conceptual model but also a normative engine in the global proliferation of regional integration. It also gives a comprehensive treatment of the focus, motives, and objectives of non-European integration efforts. Volume II offers a unique collection of documents that give the best available overview of the legal and political evolution of region building based on official documents and stated objectives of the relevant regional groupings across all continents. Together, these volumes are important contributions for understanding the evolution of global affairs in an age when power shifts provide new challenges and opportunities for transatlantic partners and the world community.