МЕГАРЕГИОНЫ В ГЛОБАЛИЗИРУЮЩЕМСЯ ХОЗЯЙСТВЕ

Abstract

The bipolar nature of modern world – globalization and fragmentation – speeds up regional movements and economic integration. These processes in peripheral regions are expected to grow more vigorously than in the developed regions. Fragmentation redoubled the number of national economies and reduced their average size. To withstand the impact of globalization peripheral countries apply to their regional potential: they increase the connectivity of integration unions and regional infrastructure. The developed countries with their oversupplied home markets concentrate on outward expansion. Interaсtion of these heterogeneous foreign trade strategies gave birth to new links in the system of international economic relations – mega-regionalism and interregional constructions including transoceanic integration unions like TTP. The world economy is in store for a new division line because of the coexistence and competition between mega-regional and transoceanic integration unions. One of the possible repercussions of these events may be the emergence of geopolitical and geoeconomic triad – NATO, TTIP, TTP. Under such international situation peripheral economies are able to build regional integration unions and function for many years but mostly without any noticeable progress. Low internal connectivity hampers their movement towards the integration threshold. That’s why integration process should be analyzed by dividing it into two stages – initial (start) period (until reaching integration threshold and nature stage (integration build mainly on its own recourses and base). The possibility of measuring quantitatively the approach to integration threshold allows to determine the division line between two stages. Duration of the first stage is 10–12 and more years. The creation of a successful project of regional economic integration takes at least 20–30. Proposals are made how to measure the progress of regional integration projects.