Model Of Regional Integration Research Articles

The Position of Environmental Threats in Creating Different Models of Regional Integration

After the Cold War, the concept of international security underwent a modification. Among the most important components of such a transformation, the consolidation of 'environmental security', a topic in international security, can be taken into account. Environmental security deal with threats that are not only the unintentional result of social and economic activities but are very slow in comparison with military threats and thus, the timing horizons for necessary political planning to confront them are significantly extensive. This article also reviews the status and role of the environmental threats in creating regional integration using the content analysis method and surveying them. The results indicate that 33/4% of regional integration was created according to the non-geographical variables yet and environmental threats don't play any roles in the so organizations.

Economic aspects of global warming in a post-Copenhagen environment

The science of global warming has reached a consensus on the high likelihood of substantial warming over the coming century. Nations have taken only limited steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since the first agreement in Kyoto in 1997, and little progress was made at the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009. The present study examines alternative outcomes for emissions, climate change, and damages under different policy scenarios. It uses an updated version of the regional integrated model of climate and the economy (RICE model). Recent projections suggest that substantial future warming will occur if no abatement policies are implemented. The model also calculates the path of carbon prices necessary to keep the increase in global mean temperature to 2 degrees C or less in an efficient manner. The carbon price for 2010 associated with that goal is estimated to be $59 per ton (at 2005 prices), compared with an effective global average price today of around $5 per ton. However, it is unlikely that the Copenhagen temperature goal will be attained even if countries meet their ambitious stated objectives under the Copenhagen Accord.

African regional integration and European involvement: external agents in the East African Community

The EU's role as a model for regional integration is widely discussed in scholarship and policy circles. The promotion of regional integration is central to the EU's external relations and is frequently expected by the EU's partners. This paper examines European involvement with the East African Community (EAC). It questions the promotion and adoption of the European model and critically examines how the discourse of regionalisation relates to motivations and dynamics. On the European part, the promotion of regional integration is part of the EU's notion of a geopolitical mission based on the objective of aligning internal and external policy agendas. African elites, on the other hand, frequently view ‘integration’ as a way of mobilising resources and asserting state sovereignty.

Competing Views on an East Asian Community: A South Korean Perspective

The region of East Asia has experienced profound changes during the last two decades with the formation of a more region-oriented regional order in the economic and other arenas. Amidst the tendency moving fast towards an increased economic interdependence, there have been growing discussions among the regional countries on the possibility of building an East Asian Community. The main aim of this research is to examine the extent to which the EU's integration experience would make contribution to understanding East Asia's regional potential. It is argued that, despite the huge gaps between the two regions, the overall conditions for regional cooperation and integration in East Asia have been fast improving and the applicability of the European model to the region will continue to increase in the future. After analysing the political and security implications of the ongoing discussions, the author concludes that both the EU's model of regional integration and its proactive engagement policy in the region would likely facilitate the formation of an East Asian community in the coming future.

Interregionalism or Merely a Fourth-Level Game? An Examination of the EU-ASEAN Relationship

It is argued in this paper that the normative nature of both the conscious and unconscious attempts of the European Union as a ‘civilian power’ to export its model of regional integration elsewhere, has led to the claim that an ostensibly new form of interaction in international relations - one characterized as interregionalism - has emerged. An examination of the EU-ASEAN relationship, however, would suggest that this assertion is greatly exaggerated. Between conventional bilateral relations, between individual EU members and individual Southeast Asian nations, and forms of multilateral and asymmetrical bilateral relations between the EU as a global actor and individual ASEAN members, the space for interregionalism is indeed very limited. Rather, by building on Putnam’s seminal work enunciating his metaphor of “two-level games” (i.e. the domestic and the international) and its extension in Patterson’s and Deutsch’s discussion of ‘three level games’ (the third level being the intra-regional), it is suggested that interregionalism is merely the addition of a minor fourth level in international relations bargaining. Such a characterization has the salutary effect of drawing attention back, both to the different forms of regional integration, and to the varying capacities within regional entities. It is these elements that are worthy of further research, rather than some imagined alchemy denoted as interregionalism. The latter can best be described as a normative milieu goal, rather than being an appropriate and useful analytical category.

Health Link Alberta: A Model for Successful Health Service Integration

Health Link Alberta is a model of successful regional integration. Launched as a single-region service in 2000, Health Link Alberta was rolled out as a province-wide service in 2003, operating as one service from two sites (Calgary and Edmonton). Provincial integration of Health Link Alberta was successful because it took the time to establish collaborative governance structures, build relationships with regional and provincial stakeholders, recognize and accommodate regional and local needs, and develop the processes and tools that it needed to deliver a quality, consistent and accessible service for all Albertans. Within three years, Health Link Alberta achieved 63% awareness and 46% utilization among all Alberta households.

El modelo TLCAN de integración y las negociaciones del ALCA

En este ensayo se analiza el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) como modelo de integración para el proceso negociador del Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA). Mediante un examen de la evolución de la propuesta de integración hemisférica, se considera el proyecto estadounidense de ampliar el modelo de integración que inspiró la creación del TLCAN, al resto de América Latina y el Caribe. De igual manera, se analiza la reacción de los países del Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur), que bajo el liderazgo de Brasil han rechazado la pretensión de Estados Unidos de imponer el modelo TLCAN. En una primera parte del artículo, se estudian los diferentes modelos comerciales e intervencionistas de integración regional, en particular la Unión Europea y el regionalismo abierto de la Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL). En la segunda parte, se evalúa el TLCAN como un nuevo modelo que tiene aspiraciones más ambiciosas que los tradicionales modelos comerciales. Se considera luego el debate sobre los modelos en el contexto de las negociaciones del ALCA y la respuesta del Mercosur. Finalmente, se concluye con algunas reflexiones sobre el destino del ALCA y la necesidad de que Estados Unidos reconozca la existencia de propuestas distintas al modelo TLCAN, requisito para una satisfactoria conclusión del proceso negociador.

Foreign Investment and Trade in Cuban Development: A 50‐Year Reassessment with Emphasis on the Post‐1990 Period

This article provides a 50‐year reassessment of foreign investment and trade in Cuba and locates this analysis within Cuban debates on development and the economics of transition. Transformations contextualised in these debates cover three periods. The 1959–1989 period was characterised by nationalisations and expropriations, the imposition of the US trade embargo, and the trade and economic assistance agreements signed with the Soviet Union. The Special Period crisis emerged in the 1990s and Cuba had to turn to foreign investment and alternative trade options while continuing to reject the adoption of open regionalism and neoliberal policies. The 2005–2008 period was characterised by Cuba's incorporation into the Bolivarian Alternative, a new regional integration model.

Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation in South Asia

Globalization polarized the world and made international trade very competitive. Each and every country is trying to exploit whatever trade opportunities are available. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) contracting countries are facing various barriers to trade promotion. Due to bureaucratic and time-consuming process of removing the barriers, many countries are now thinking of alternatives like regional and bilateral free trade agreements for duty-free market access for many of their products.The European Union (EU), considered a model of regional integration, has emerged an economic power. It acts as a unit in various international bodies like the UN and the WTO.The South Asian leaders formed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and adopted South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) and South Asian Freed Trade Agreement (SAFTA), keeping this in mind. The SAFTA came into effect January 01, 2006 for free trade among the eight SAARC member countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. South Asia is miles from the cherished goal of free trade. Bangladesh must study and analyse the opportunities and disadvantages of business under the SAFTA. The business community must strengthen their strengths to take opportunities of the SAFTA and prepare to overcome their weakness to avoid its disadvantages.Bangladesh does need to assess properly the possible effects of SAFTA on its trade with other SAARC member-countries, whether or not it would increase trade, if not why? Bangladesh should raise the issue of its major exportable products in the negative list in the next trade negotiations with the SAARC countries under the SAFTA. It should study the barriers its businessmen are facing in doing business with the other SAARC countries to pinpoint the measures to make SAFTA more effective.The study should concentrate on analysing the possible impact the SAFTA would have on Bangladesh's trade with the SAARC countries. It should identify Bangladesh's major exportable products in the negative or sensitive list of the SAARC countries, so that it can take up the issue in next trade negotiations under the SAFTA.

The ASEAN Way and Community Integration: Two Different Models of Regionalism

The aim of this article is to compare the EU and the Association of South‐East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as models of regional integration, while using the well‐funded dichotomies of structural and functional analysis of international organisations. At their origin, the two organisations were very different by nature—the EU has always been a role model, or sometimes counter model, for the ASEAN. Today, their objectives and aims are more and more alike, although their structural and legal means remain very different. Finally, both organisations have to find their own way and justification in order to be accepted by their people and to be an active actor of a more globalised world.

Altruism or Self-Interest? An Exploratory Study of the EU’s External Image in South Africa

This article provides an exploratory analysis of how the European Union is perceived in South Africa by public opinion, political elites, civil society organizations and the mass media. The EU’s image in South Africa is rather distant, if not marginal: it is scarcely known to the South African public at large and vastly ignored by the country’s media. In terms of public opinion polls, the EU is one of the least known international institutions, despite being South Africa’s biggest donor of development aid and largest trading partner. In official government documents, the EU is portrayed as an opportunity for the African continent and a model of regional integration, while civil society organizations criticize the EU for imposing developmental policies that are detrimental to the developing world. In view of the substantial diplomatic and financial investment the EU has made in South Africa over the years, and because of South Africa’s leadership role in Southern Africa, the findings of this article are likely to provide important insights into the external image of the EU as a global developmental actor.

Korean unification: How painful and how costly?

Unification between two countries is not a purely economic phenomenon but a multidimensional phenomenon. We evaluate the prospects of unification between South Korea and North Korea from a multidimensional perspective encompassing the political, social, economic and technological dimensions. To do so, we use the Global Dimension of Regional Integration model developed by [Ruiz, M. A. (2004). The Global Dimension of Regional Integration Model (GDRI-Model), FEA 2004–7. Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA) Working Papers. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya]. Our main finding is a wide and growing gap between the two Koreas in terms of political, social, economic and technological development as well as overall development. This suggests that inter-Korean unification is likely to be a costly and disruptive process.

Gestions de l’eau et du développement urbain dans l’espace dijonnais : quels modes d’intégration territoriale ?

Fortement articulé autour des réseaux techniques, le développement urbain contribue à la pression anthropique sur la ressource en eau. Dans le même temps, la politique européenne de l’eau place la gestion de ce développement urbain à l’échelle des bassins-versants et des fonctionnements hydrologiques. Cela nécessite, pour des structures communales et intercommunales fondées sur des logiques socio-économiques et politiques, d’intégrer des cadres territoriaux et des systèmes d’action différents. Le cas de l’agglomération dijonnaise, située à la convergence de trois bassins et au-dessus d’un vaste aquifère, montre que la gestion urbaine de l’eau tient compte de plus en plus du caractère fragile et collectif de la ressource, tout en privilégiant les réponses institutionnelles axées sur la régulation de l’urbanisme.

Global Development of Regional Integration Model (GDRI-Model)

This research paper presents a new model of analysis to study the trend of regional integration from a global perspective. This new model is called the Global Dimension of Regional Integration Model (GDRI-Model). The rationale for the creation of this model is the necessity to study regional integration from political, social, economic, and technological perspectives simultaneously. There are four basic phases in the implementation of GDRI-Model. The first phase is the design of the multi-input database table. The second phase is the measurement of individual Regional Global Development Indexes (Xi), which include the Regional Global Political Development Index (X1), Regional Global Social Development Index (X2), Regional Global Economic Development Index (X3) and Regional Global Technological Development Index (X4). The third phase is the measurement of the Regional Global Development (RGD) index. The last phase is the measurement of Regional Integration Stage (RIS) index. The general objective of GDRI-Model is to offer policy-makers and researchers a new analytical tool to study the evolution and stages of any regional integration process from a global perspective - based on a group of indexes and graphs. The GDRI-Model is not intended to be a forecasting model in any case. However, its application is not limited to the study of a special group of countries or regions. It is not constrained by issues about the region or the development stages of any member in a region that is interested in integrating into a single regional trade bloc. The GDRI-Model, in effect, is a simple and flexible scheme, which can be applied to any case of regional integration.

Dual-rate discounting in dynamic economic–environmental modeling

Discounting plays a crucial role in the economic–environmental modeling with long time horizons. The models with conventional uniform discounting run into difficulties in justifying the cost-benefit tradeoffs of some environmental policies, such as the Kyoto Protocol for greenhouse gas emission reductions. In this paper, we propose a dichotomized approach to resolve the difficulties. Specifically, we suggest that the dual-rate discounting be used in economic–environmental modeling. In such a model, private investments are guided by a conventional discount rate and the environmental investments are guided by a much lower ‘environmental’ discount rate. The dual-rate intertemporal decisions coexist in a time-consistent dynamic system. To validate the notion of dual-rate discounting, we implement it in the regional integrated model of climate and economy model (Am. Econ. Rev. 86 (1996) 741) through an iterative algorithm. The results from the model simulation confirm the desirable properties of dual-rate discounting.

Regional Economic Integration: The European Model

Regional initiatives have flourished since the end of the Cold War. Given the degree of integration it has achieved, the European Union is often cited as a model of regional integration. This article argues that European integration has been the product of very specific historical conditions, implying that the politics and dynamics of regional integration in Europe may not be appropriate for and replicable in other regions. It also discusses European monetary union (EMU) and argues that integration within EMU is still incomplete in particular because economic policies are not sufficiently coordinated. Finally, it discusses the contribution of regional integration to global governance and suggests that the “European model” can be a source of inspiration for the rest of the world not as much as a process to emulate as for the lessons that can be learned from the dynamics and experience of European integration about some important issues in managing economic interdependence.

The semi-arid integrated model (SIM), a regional integrated model assessing water availability, vulnerability of ecosystems and society in NE-Brazil

Northeastern Brazil, an example of vulnerable semi-arid regions on the earth, is characterised by water scarcity and vulnerability of natural resources, pronounced climatic variability and social stress situations. Integrated studies involving hydrology, ecology, meteorology, climatology, pedology, agronomy, and social and economic sciences are required not only for analysing consequences of the adverse natural conditions but also to assess possible strategies to make semi-arid regions less vulnerable to the present and changing climate.Integrated modelling of the relationships between water availability, quality of life and migration, including aspects of global change processes, in the Semi-arid Integrated Model (SIM) serves to understand the dynamics of the system. An overview of the concept, structure and application results of the integrated model are given.A sensitivity study on climate change illustrates potentially significant adverse effects on the region. Moreover, it shows that a regional integrated model is a suitable tool for complex and interdisciplinary studies. The present version of SIM still is in a development phase, especially in its representation of socio-economic processes.

Africa and global climate change: critical issues and suggestions for further research and integrated assessment modeling

This special issue is dedicated to research on climate change in Africa. This research has, until recently, taken a back seat to more pressing applied research on natural resource management. As countries of the world position themselves with respect to climate change, it is important for African nations to better understand the likely impacts of climate change on their environment, peoples and economies. African researchers are now starting to address global change research issues, and this special issue provides a sample of recent research on climate change. Climate change must be an integral part of the long-term sustainable development agenda for African nations. Coping with and adapting to climate change requires a strong scientific understanding integrated with socioeconomic and policy considerations. At this time, international efforts are developing the climate change research agendas needed to develop this basic understanding and explore ways to integrate physical and social processes within a modeling framework. The immediate focus is on undertaking regional scale analyses and coupled models suited to the African physical and socioeconomic environment. This paper summarizes the rationale for this special issue, identifies the key issues addressed in the contributions and provides a concise research framework for further work on Africa. One of the primary goals of this framework is to develop regional integrated assessment models for Africa. These models are a necessary step towards strengthening the analysis of impacts and help make the necessary connection between science understanding, resource management and public policy. Integrated assessments will also help incorporate climate change analysis and prediction in sustainable development schemes.

L'Europe face à l'Asie, l'Asie face à l'Europe : de la realpolitik à la recherche d'un nouvel universalisme

From its formal inception in Bangkok, in March 1996, the Asia-Europe Dialogue (ASEM) has been seen by Europeans as a means to reduce the threat of emergence of a block mentality in the two geographical areas. The ASEM dialogue distinguishes itself from other political and economic fora by the high level of its participants. The economic, political and cultural diversity of the ASEM Member States, as well as the constraints imposed by their belonging to two major regional institutional groupings, the European Union and ASEAN, make this dialogue and the creation of common institutions responding to the expectations of all stakeholders even more complex. In addition, ASEAN itself must be strengthened as a model of regional integration in order to effectively support the ASEM process, failing which the stability of Asia could be seriously jeopardized by endogenous factors related to the issue of sustainability of growth and of political handling of economic and political integration.

Approaches to continental scale runoff for integrated assessment models

Abstract The need to incorporate water resources into regional and global integrated assessment models for evaluating global change impacts has been identified as being important, but given the spatial and temporal variability of freshwater resources and limited data availability, the inclusion of water within these large scale models has proven to be difficult. A compromise between accurate representation of complex processes and simplistic parameterization is necessary for capturing regional and temporal variability and to minimize computational requirements. An analysis of Western Europe's and Africa's freshwater runoff, which spans a range of climate variability, was performed at varying levels of spatial aggregation and at both monthly and annual time steps. Model results showed that regional runoff characteristics were lost beyond a data aggregation of 1° × 1° resolution. A monthly soil moisture model proved to be adequate for assessing annual water availability, which is the scale often used in integrated assessment models. Simpler methods, such as an empirical annual model and a simple monthly model did not consistently replicate annual historic runoff.