Comparative Regional Integration Theoretical Perspectives

Contents: Part I: Introduction: Theoretical perspectives on comparative regional integration, Finn Laursen. Part II: Governmentalist Perspectives: Rebuilding the Central American bloc in the 1990s: an intergovernmentalist approach to integration, Rafael Sánchez; Presidentialism and Mercosur: a hidden cause for a successful experience, Andrés Malamud; A supply-side theory of international economic institutions for the Mercosur, José Raúl Perales. Part III: Power Perspectives: Power and regionalism: explaining regional cooperation in the Persian Gulf, Scott Cooper and Brock Taylor; Two funerals and a wedding? The ups and downs of regionalism in East Asia and Asia Pacific after the Asian Crisis, Douglas Webber. Part IV: Constructivist Perspectives: Rethinking the Mediterranean: reality and re-presentation in the creation of a 'Region', Michelle Pace; Two sides of the same coin: mutual perceptions and security community in the case of Argentina and Brazil, Andrea Oelsner; Integration in times of instability: exchange rate and monetary cooperation in Mercosur and the EU, Susana Borrás and Michael Kluth. Part V: Neofunctionalist and Historical Institutionalist Perspectives: The ECOWAS: from regional economic organization to regional peacekeeper, Peter M. Dennis and M. Leann Brown; Path dependence and external shocks: the dynamics of the EU enlargement eastwards, Svetlozar A. Andreev. Part VI: Concluding Comments: The vertical and horizontal dimensions of regional integration: a concluding note, Walter Mattli; International regimes or would-be polities? Some concluding questions and remarks, Finn Laursen; Index.

Biography

Finn Laursen is Professor of International Politics within the Department of Political Science and Public Management, and Director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

'This wide-ranging collection of articles...provides a fine blend of up-to-date...empirical research on regional integration issues and a valuable synthesis of different theoretical approaches. Taken as a whole, the volume makes an important contribution to the growing literature in international relations and European studies by bringing clarity and structured orientations in a field of high scientific importance, but persistent conceptual confusion.' Mario Telò, Free University Brussels (ULB), Belgium 'Provides a very valuable comparative perspective on the European Union and other projects of regional integration. Ranging across the Americas, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, this volume will interest those who view theories addressing European integration as key to understanding the process of non-European regional integration as well as those who reject that approach.' Alberta Sbragia, European Union Center of Excellence & European Studies Center, University of Pittsburgh, USA 'This remarkable work does not only consider the relevance of the European experience for regional integration elsewhere but also draws upon examples from the other regions to illuminate the development of the EU from different theoretical perspectives. A Great Leap Forward in the emerging field of comparative regionalism!' Björn Hettne, University of Gothenburg, Sweden