Part IV Activities of Organizations, Ch.18 Economic Relations and Integration

Subject(s):

Economic, social, and cultural rights — Membership of international organizations — International organizations, practice and procedure

This chapter deals with issues of regional economic integration in a comparative perspective. It is divided into two parts: a conceptual and a theoretical part. The conceptual part starts with a definition and typology of economic integration. It then presents features of institutional design that capture the institutional variation and development of regional economic integration. This conceptual apparatus has been used recently to map regional economic organizations and describe their variation and development. The theoretical part begins with economic theories of integration, which have, however, little to say about the political process of integration and the role and effects of institutions and organizations. It then moves on to political theories of economic integration, which have mainly been developed in the context of European integration: intergovernmentalism, supranationalism, and constructivism.