Regional Integration Policy Research Articles

Internacionalização da educação superior nos marcos da integração regional da América Latina: o caso da Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana

Especialmente a partir da emergncia dos processos de integrao de mercados (globalizao) e de culturas (mundializao), que marca a ordem econmica e poltica mundial do ps-guerra, os esforos de comunidades acadmicas, formuladores de polticas pblicas e governos nacionais dos pases latino-americanos se conjugam na direo de reconfigurar seus sistemas e polticas de educao superior com base em uma palavra-fora: internacionalizao. Nesse cenrio, apresenta-se uma dialtica que tende a confrontar (no, necessariamente, a contrapor) demandas locais/nacionais histricas de incluso e profissionalizao da cidadania, por definio referida ao Estado-Nao, aos imperativos de uma geopoltica do conhecimento comandada pelos centros dinmicos do capitalismo contemporneo que, por sua vez, se pauta num modelo definido (e prestigiado) de educao superior, as world class universities, conforme critrios apontados e mensurados por rankings internacionais, caracterizando, assim, um processo de transnacionalizao, mais que de internacionalizao. Neste trabalho, identificamos as modalidades mais clssica de internacionalizao historicamente adotadas pelos sistemas e polticas de educao superior da Amrica Latina, para em seguida analisar a resposta institucional oferecida aos requisitos de internacionalizao com a recente implantao de uma universidade federal brasileira: a Universidade da Integrao Latino-Americana (Unila), destacando sua forte relao com a poltica externa brasileira de integrao regional para o territrio abrangido pelo Mercosul. Defendemos o entendimento de que a Unila se orienta por concepes institucionais, curriculares e epistemolgicas alternativas aos modelos hegemnicos e que representa, potencialmente, uma viso de poltica de educao superior que busca uma outra configurao para a geopoltica do conhecimento no espao latino-americano. O trabalho apresenta anlises preliminares das pesquisas (bibliogrfica, documental e de campo) realizadas no mbito do projeto Observatrio da Universidade Popular do Brasil, desenvolvido pelo Programa de Ps-Graduao em Educao da Uninove (PPGE-Uninove) sob fomento da Capes.

Relative Winners and Losers from Efficiency Spillovers in Africa: Implications for Regional Integration and Income Inequality

Studies that have analyzed the efficiency of developing countries have estimated non-spatial frontier models. We extend this approach by accounting for spatial dependence among African countries. In particular, we estimate a spatial Durbin stochastic production frontier model. We also make novel use of the efficiency scores from our spatial model to suggest a direction for regional integration policy for Africa that policy makers can consider. A previous suggestion to promote regional integration and income growth in Southern Africa has been to use South Africa as a regional integration hub and to encourage other countries in the region to improve economic links with the hub. We continue with this line of enquiry and although we conclude that there are currently no African countries that are ideal candidates to be a regional integration hub, we suggest three other countries that policy makers may consider using as hubs in the future. We therefore suggest that it would be prudent to consider implementing policies to expedite the readiness of these countries to act as integration hubs.

SPACE ASYMMETRIES OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

The objective preconditions of regionalization in the global space are considered in the article. The consequences and challenges of regional economic integration processes for the countries are revealed. The importance of coordinating the objectives of regional economic integration and national economic policy is substantiated. The role of integration in the liberalization of trade through the reduction of tariff barriers is argued. The regional asymmetries of global economic development are outlined. The state of development of regional trade agreements in the last decades is analysed. This analysis has made it possible to determine the difficulties of functioning of integration associations in modern conditions and to substantiate that each region has its own peculiarities, as shown by the example of the European Union, the member countries of NAFTA, integration in the countries of Latin America . The index of regional integration in Africa has been estimated. It allowed revealing significant differences among the groups of countries. The peculiarities of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the conditions of cooperation of the countries have been clarified.

The Russian Federation RTAs in the Light of Global Value Chains

In the literature, the regional integration policy of the Russian Federation has been studied in a variety of contexts. The focus is on the imperial and international aspirations of Russia. The article attempts to answer the question of whether participation in global value chains can be treated as a new criterion of regional integration. The article analyses the participation of the Russian Federation in the global value chains. The thesis is that in the modern globalized world, the directions of the most favourable RTA should be determined not only by the volume and intensity of trade but also by the structure of the global value chains of a particular country.

21st century geopolitics: integration and development in the age of ‘continental states’

ABSTRACT21st century geopolitics: integration and development in the age of ‘continental states’. Territory, Politics, Governance. There is a need, in the 21st century, to analyse the interconnection between development and regional integration with a renewed attention to geopolitics. The aim of this paper is to explore the links between states, the economy and the international system in an ongoing process of transformation generating a new world order. Drawing on geopolitical theory, this study advances the argument that in the 21st century, those states in search of increasing autonomy apply strategies of regional integration and development-oriented policies, following a path to constructing new grossraums centred on states that are continental in scope. For this analysis the study proposes using a geopolitical perspective – here called ‘classical geopolitics’ – emphasizing the territorial dimension of state making, which includes economic policies and the formation of national identities. Particular attention is given to the spatial motif observed in international systems of promoting paths towards states of continental scope.

ASEAN: Regional Integration and Reforms

Over recent decades ASEAN has advanced a policy of regional integration, starting with the ASEAN Free Trade Area, following on with the ASEAN+1 free trade agreements with its six main trading partners, and now with ASEAN+6. To further advance ASEAN's regional integration in the East Asian context, it should continue to focus on further liberalization of trade in goods, investment, and services that can facilitate more trade and investment. East Asian integration is designed not to be just an “extensive regional trade agreement,” but is more a “responsive vehicle” that consists of trade and investment commitments combined with facilitation. To keep regional integration viable, it should adopt an open regionalism.

The Colombia–Ecuador Border Region: Between Informal Dynamics and Illegal Practices

ABSTRACTThis paper examines two different phenomena in the Amazonian border region, taking into account the analytical framework of international relations to understand the way in which States face them: (1) the informal dynamics of everyday life that have been part of the State formation process, and (2) illegal practices. We argue that they are different but not independent processes. First, informal sectors are part of the “political economy of war,” due to the incipient consolidation of the State, linked to historical isolation and the strong influence of the internal armed conflict in Colombia’s border region and its transnational dynamics in Ecuador. Legal activities often finance illegal activities of non-state armed actors and depend on it. Second, public policies in the region are based on a national or regional security point of view without articulating with regional integration policies. Finally, States act individually in the Andean region with no policies of cooperation at all. This lack of articulation has had a negative impact on human security. States’ responses to illegal activities have failed, leading to a capturing of the political system. Nonetheless, guerrilla and Colombian government peace talks have opened a new path to think differently on how to consolidate the State control and to build social linkages based on regional integration, social inclusion and consolidation of democratic rule.

Regional Integration and Trade in Agrifood Products: Evidence from the East African Community

This study examines the postulation that trade liberalization (regional integration) policies of LDCs normally undermine their presumed impact. The study is based on the experience of EAC trade agreement. It adopts the extended gravity model, to analyze the impact of this regional integration on food item. The model includes 168 countries and is estimated with panel data over the period 1988 – 2009. The Poisson estimation method took into account unobserved trade data characteristics of the bilateral trade relations. The results show that regional trade integration increased exports, normally at the expense of exports and welfare of non-members, and these exports were more reflective of food exports growth. The same has not been true for intra-bloc exports of food although the sector experienced an increase in exports resulting from the implementation of a trade agreement. The intra-bloc results are consistent with the structural rigidities of the exporting EAC Countries.   Â

Energy trade efficiency and its determinants: A Malmquist index approach

This paper adopts the Malmquist index approach to investigate multi-product energy trade efficiency and its determinants from an empirical perspective. Using trade statistics of coal, oil and gas of 40 countries over the period of 1995 to 2008, we found that the efficiency of bilateral energy trade ranged between 0.26 and 0.35 when imperfect substitution between different energy products is taken into account. This measure is significantly lower than those obtained from traditional gravity models. It suggests that the ability of cross-product substitution affects trade efficiency improvement which results from regional market integration and related trade policy. The results provide useful insights on predicting the pattern of future energy trade and hence have important implications for relevant countries to prioritize product-specific trade policies.

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the Challenges of Inter-Regionalism

Few trade agreements have become the focus of such dramatic domestic and international events as the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This article discusses the evolution of the Agreement against the background of Ukraine’s relations with the EU and post-Soviet regional integration projects. We argue that negotiating a binding and comprehensive agreement on deep integration with the EU has been a long-term priority for Ukraine. This is in contrast with its cautious and selective approach to post-Soviet integration initiatives, prizing above all free trade without exemptions. The desire to achieve and maintain this objective has made Ukraine vulnerable to Russia’s regional integration plans which increasingly have entailed a veto on Ukraine’s engagement with the EU through the Association Agreement. The article discusses Russia’s key objections to the Agreement, arguing that they are driven by regional ambition and the need to assert the precedence of its integration regime over the EU. While the overlap of integration regimes is not a unique phenomenon in the modern world, clearly the Association Agreement has shown the limits of EU’s and Russia’s regional economic integration policies with regard to their shared neighborhood. Postponing the implementation of the Agreement by the EU and Ukraine as a result of Russia’s objections in 2014 , however, does not address the core underlying issues behind these limits and creates significant problems of its own. While the crisis over the Agreement has brought up the need for effective inter-regionalism, finding sustainable solutions remains a considerable challenge.

Welfare Impacts of Preferential Trade Liberalization in South Asia

Focusing on the global trading relationship aggregated at the level of 15 regions and 10 sectors, we investigate in this paper the welfare effects of preferential trade liberalisation in South Asia from several simulation perspectives. The static version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model shows that countries that are initially more protected (such as India) are likely to capture the lion’s share of the gain from the liberalization scheme. Countries that maintain status quo are the losers; prominent among them are the EU 25 and the North America region. However, these results are dramatically changed in the dynamic version of the GTAP model. In terms of deviations from the baseline scenario, the regional integration policy in South Asia turns out to be net welfare reducing for both the region and the rest of the world.

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the Challenges of Inter-Regionalism

Few agreements have become the focus of such dramatic domestic and international events as the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This article discusses the evolution of the Agreement against the background of Ukraine’s relations with the EU and post-Soviet regional integration projects. We argue that negotiating a binding and comprehensive agreement on deep integration with the EU has been a long-term priority for Ukraine. This is in contrast with its cautious and selective approach to post-Soviet integration initiatives, prizing above all free trade without exemptions. The desire to achieve and maintain this objective has made Ukraine vulnerable to Russia’s regional integration plans which increasingly have entailed a veto on Ukraine’s engagement with the EU through the Association Agreement. The article discusses Russia’s key objections to the Agreement, arguing that they are driven by regional ambition and the need to assert the precedence of its integration regime over the EU. While the overlap of integration regimes is not a unique phenomenon in the modern world, clearly the Association Agreement has shown the limits of EU’s and Russia’s regional economic integration policies with regard to their shared neighborhood. Postponing the implementation of the Agreement as a result of Russia’s objections, however, does not address the core underlying issues behind these limits and creates significant problems of its own. While the crisis over the Agreement has brought up the need for effective inter-regionalism, finding sustainable solutions remains a considerable challenge.

Regional integration and national social policies

How does regionalization affect national social policies? Although there is an extensive literature on the effects of globalization on social protection, the literature on the impact of regional integration is much less developed. I argue that the distinctive nature of regionalization processes calls for rigorous empirical testing of the domestic policy effects of regional integration. To this end, using an innovative dataset that measures the degree to which countries are integrated into regional economic and political organizations, this article uses statistical analysis to consider the influence of regional integration on government social spending. The results are surprising: regionalization has a significant and positive relationship with government social spending, controlling for other factors, even when the European Union countries are excluded from the analysis. In fact, in the EU countries increasing regionalization is associated with lower social spending levels. These results suggest that regional economic and political integration does not necessarily lead to a “race to the bottom” of social spending. Instead, regionalization appears to accommodate wide divergence in national social policy commitments.

Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) and Trade-Driven Competitiveness -- Is There a Relation to Inclusive Growth? -- Overview of Economic Literature

This paper overviews literature which studies and discusses value chains, economic corridor and cluster development as part of a regional network structure along which goods, knowledge, and technology are exchanged by economic agents. The overview examines how regional geography, history, and structure determine the patterns of innovation, diversification, and specialization in a region. It synthesizes literature which examines how model functional forms, their scale and resolution of regional impact determine the significance of impact, which can be observed from models by policy makers. Finally, the paper identifies literature which relates Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) policy targets, with mechanisms (so-called drivers), and to a variety of policy instruments, which together and individually through their effect on the drivers affect these targets. The paper organizes these concepts -- policy instruments, drivers, targets -- with a process map. The process map describes then an impact assessment system for the systemic analysis of the relation of such policy instruments to desired economic outcomes. Furthermore, an agent-based simulation model, in conjunction with an interactive knowledge platform, can potentially fulfill all the requirements of such impact assessment system, as detailed in the paper. A particularly attractive feature of simulation models is that they can be used as observatories in which regional policy experiments can be conducted. The paper sums up the literature on why Regional Cooperation and Integration can be a significant factor in increasing regional economic competitiveness and inclusive growth.

Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Liberalization of Trade in Services: Lessons for Regional Integration and Sectoral Policies

This paper draws insights from the literature on Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modeling of potential gains from liberalization for developing countries, in particular Northern, Eastern and Southern African economies. Due to the importance of regulatory framework and to the size of service industries, substantial potential gains are expected from liberalization, by accession to WTO, regional, preferential or bilateral trade agreements. However, it seems that attention should be focused on the specificity of each region and country and that a sectoral approach is necessary. Regarding the choice between multilateral, bilateral or regional liberalization, the optimal framework depends on service industries. Institutions particularly matter for services and reforms should be global and focused. Domestic reforms are necessary prior to trade liberalization.

What's Wrong with Regional Integration? The Problem of Eurocentrism

This working paper deals with one of the most pressing problems in the study and policy of regional integration: the problem of ‘Eurocentrism’, which in this context implies that assumptions and theories developed for the study of Europe crowd-out both more universally applicable frameworks and contextual understandings. In their frustrated attempts to avoid Eurocentrism, some scholars dealing with non-European regions tend to treat the Europe as an ‘anti-model’ — a practice which often results in a different form of parochialism where context is all that matters. The general ambition of this paper is to contribute to rethinking Eurocentrism and the role of Europe in comparative regional integration. More specifically, the study shows how Eurocentrism (in various guises) is detrimental to theoretical development, empirical analysis and policy debates, claiming instead that European integration should be integrated into a larger and more general discourse of comparative regionalism, built around general concepts and theories, but which is still culturally sensitive.

The political economy of global production networks: regional industrial change and differential upgrading in the East European clothing industry

Recent years have been testing times for the Eastern European clothing sector. Following two decades of deepening integration into European production networks, the sector has been struggling with the removal of trade quotas, increasing competitive pressures and the global economic crisis. This article takes a long-term view of the trajectories of change in the East European clothing industry drawing on the experience of the Slovak Republic. It examines the regional economic transformations that have resulted, how regional concentrations of clothing production sustained employment during the 1990s, and how tightening competitive pressures have unravelled these regional production systems leading to a differentiated landscape of firm-level upgrading strategies. The article argues that understandings of firm and regional upgrading and downgrading need to be attentive to the role of labour in the tightening landscape of ‘relative competitiveness’ and the political economy of regional integration policies, foreign ownership and the global economic crisis.

Regional integration and Brazilian Foreign Policy: Strategies in the South American space

The aim of the article is to present, based on theoretical studies of integration, the evolution of this process in Latin America and, most recently, in South America. Based on these studies, the goal is to analyze the role played by Brazil in the process, which defines as priorities of its foreign policy a regional and global framework for its international action that is based on both cooperation and power projection.The research has been conducted based on theories of integration, an historical background on Latin American integration and in Brazilian foreign policy, through its contemporary agenda. The answer was based on a comparative agenda and in a bibliographical critical analysis of the research material.The main findings of the paper point out that Latin American integration has specific features linked to the economic, political and stragetic realities of the continent that show the limitations of some theories applied to the European process, also that it depends on Brazilian foreign policy actions, that still sees the region as instrumental to its interests. So, Brazil sometimes fail to fulfill some requisites of integration that are essential to sustain its projects. Therefore, there is a cycle of enlargement and deepening of regional integration process in this political space that point out to the need of a more sustained compromise of Brazilian foreign policy towards these projects. If Brazil continues not to sustain these projects, they will lose momentum and significance once more, increasing power asymmetries in the region.

Round table report: Advancing regional social integration, social protection, and the free movement of people in Southern Africa

The round table on “Advancing regional social integration, social protection, and free movement of people in Southern Africa” was organized as part of the conference “Regional governance of migration and social policy: Comparing European and African regional integration policies and practices” held at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) on 18–20 April 2012, at which the articles in this special issue were first presented. The discussion was moderated by Prince Mashele of the South African Centre for Politics and Research and the participants included: Yitna Getachew, IOM Regional Representative for Southern Africa, Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA); Jonathan Crush, University of Cape Town and Balsillie School of International Affairs, Canada, representing the Southern Africa Migration Program (SAMP); Vic van Vuuren, Director of Southern African ILO; Vivienne Taylor, South Africa Planning Commission; Sergio Calle Norena, Deputy Regional Representative of UNHCR; Laurent De Boeck, Director, ACP Observatory on Migration, Brussels; Wiseman Magasela, Deputy Director General Social Policy, South African Department of Social Development; and Sanusha Naidu, Open Society Foundation for South Africa.

ECOWAS Monetary Union Agenda and Regional Integration Policies: Applicable Theories, Supervision and Challenges

The idea of Regional integration can be traceable to the evolvement of the international trade relations in the post-war period, linked regionalism, while regionalism itself can be understood through two different historical perspectives. The first occurred in 1951 and1957 with European Coal and Steel Community (1951) and the second with European Economic Community. This two served as forerunners of the European Union. Thus, in the developing world, especially in Latin America and Africa, there was adoption of import-substituting regional integration as the means to effect inward-looking growth. Most of the developing country schemes initiated at this time eventually became moribund or even collapsed, while the growing momentum of multilateral liberalization in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to the decline in the importance attached to regionalism, while the second is traceable to the second half of the 1980s. Thus, under the impetus of the European cooperation, the 1960s wave of regionalism reached Africa with the founding of the Central African Customs Union in 1964, Latin America via the Central American Common Market in 1960 and the Andean Pact in 1969. In Asia, ASEAN was launched in 1967. However, the idea of regional integration in West Africa (even though accompanied with some form of politics) is aimed at bringing economic unity in trade, commerce and development. It is also aimed at limiting or even eliminating all trade barriers in the region and promoting socio-economic development of member states. ECOWAS as a sub-regional organisation was launched through the Treaty of Lagos in 1975, with the primary goals of promoting regional trade, economic cooperation and self-reliance in the sub-region. To accelerate integration, a revised ECOWAS Treaty was signed in 1993. Its aspirations are basically channelled towards a common market and a single currency among member states. This essay tend look at ECOWAS regional integration and single currency agenda and assess its successes, and supervision, challenges and applicable theories for continued achievement.