Suchergebnisse

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 seen as a rational response to the difficulties faced by a continent with many small national markets and landlocked countries. As a result, African governments have concluded a very large number of regional integration arrangements, several of which have significant membership overlap. While characterized by ambitious targets, they have a dismally poor implementation record. Part of the problem may lie in the paradigm of linear market integration, marked by stepwise integration of goods, labour and capital markets, and eventually monetary and fiscal integration. This tends to focus on border measures such as the import tariff. However, supply-side constraints may be more important. A deeper integration agenda that includes services, investment, competition policy and other behind-the-border issues can address the national-level supply-side constraints far more effectively than an agenda which focuses almost exclusively on border measures.

This report, part of the "Cities" collection, highlights the contribution of border towns to the process of regional integration in West Africa. For 18 countries, six indicators are used to identify the specificities of border towns at the local, national and international levels: demography, urban morphology, formal enterprises, health infrastructure, road accessibility, border control posts. These indicators are analysed from the perspective of three geographical scales of regional integration (density, distance and division). The report details the economic and institutional obstacles facing border towns. It concludes with place-based political options to facilitate the economic and political development of West African border towns

The long-run effects of regional integration are analyzed in this book. On the basis of the development of a model of endogenous regional growth (which combines an endogenous growth model with aspects of ""new"" economic geography) and an empirical analysis of stylized facts for the European case, the monograph looks on mechanisms by which regional integration measures affect long-run growth rates as well as production and trade patterns. Integration measure¤s include trade liberalization, liberalization of factor flows, harmonization of policies as well as an enlargement of an integration bloc. The previous literature has always stressed the importance of such growth rate effects of regional integration, but has not - due to the lack of an appropriate theoretical framework, analyzed these effects in detail. The study present is a step towards closing this gap in the literature. Keywords: Integration, Regional Integration, European Integration Contents: Introduction: The Issues; Objectives and Method; Organization.- Empirical Observations: European Regions; Technology, Geography, and Growth; Summary.- Literature Overview: Static Models; Growth and International Integrat¤ion.- Growth and Economic Geography: The Basic Elements; A Two-Country Model; Short-Run Equilibrium; The Steady-State; Physical Capital; Appendix; Summary.- Deeper Regional Integration: Liberalization in a Two-Country Setting; Reg¤ional Integration as Partial Liberalization; Regional and Harmonized Policies; Summary.- Enlarging the Integration Bloc: Integrating a Lagging Country; Integrating a Developed Country; Leapfrogging through Integration; Summary.

Regionalization in general and regional integration in particular have taken place at a growing pace since the end of the Cold War, when states were set free from various security overlays. Regional integration is logical as it is supposed to advance wealth and peace. Still, the picture is far from clear and the process of regional integration is not automatic; disintegration takes place, as we saw in the cases of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia to mention a few. This is the case not only in states recently brought together but also in traditional states like Britain, The Netherlands and Spain where strong groups strive for independence. In some places regionalization is flourishing, but regional integration is not. Some regional integration projects like the North American Free Trade Agreement and Mercosur seem to stagnate. Certainly there are limits to regional integration. This comprehensive volume, written by high profiled academics, covers these themes by examining eleven cases ranging from the lack of integration in the Arctic and the Middle East, to ongoing or progressing integration in Europe to uncover what blocks regional integration, the results of which are used for developing new theoretical insights.--

1. On regional integration / Søren Dosenrode -- 2. Arctic regionalization / Lise Lyck -- 3. The trajectory of Arab non-integration : historical reconstruction and theoretical explanation / Wolfgang Zank -- 4. China and regional integration in East Asia : opportunities, constraints and challenges / Li Xing and Zhang Shengjun -- 5. Rethinking the (European) foundations of Sub-Saharan African regional economic integration / Peter Draper and Morisho Mwana Biningo Nene -- 6. Political dialogue in South America : the role of South American nation's union / Javier Fernando Luchetti -- 7. Central American integration : prospects for a troubled region / Peter Abrahamson -- 8. Loosely-coupled confederalism : the commonwealth of independent states and the post-Soviet space / Stephen Aris and Mark Webber -- 9. Interdependence, leadership and institutionalization : the triple deficit and fading prospects of Mercosur / Andres Malamud -- 10. Is North America unravelling? Transformations of regionalism in North America / Jeffrey Ayres and Laura Macdonald -- 11. Spill-back : the Faroe Islands' zigzag towards independence / Søren Dosenrode -- 12. No limits to European integration? Institutional change in response to the financial crisis / Wolfgang Zank -- 13. Limits to regional integration : equilibrium and spill-back / Søren Dosenrode.

Intro -- Contents -- Title -- Preface xi -- Abbreviations and Acronyms xv -- Chapter 1. Regional Integration Agreements: An Overview 1 -- Chapter 2. How Trade Blocs Increase Trade and Competition 31 -- Chapter 3. Making the Most of Regional Integration 63 -- Chapter 4. Stimulating Investment 101 -- Chapter 5. Growth and Location 123 -- Chapter 6. Integrating Domestic Policies 147 -- Chapter 7. Regional Integration as Politics 187 -- Chapter 8. Trade Blocs and the Rest of the World 209 -- Chapter 9. Rules of Thumb for Regionalism 261 -- Annex. Selected WTO Provisions on Regional Integration Arrangements 267 -- Bibliography 271 -- Index 299 -- LIST OF BOXES -- LIST OF FIGURES -- LIST OF TABLES.