Regionalism: A Political-Economy Model.

The last two decades have witnessed the second wave of regionalism. The primary focus of this paper is on what political and economic forces drive the process of regional integration. Although there is a plethora of literature in this regard, the formation and development of regional blocs have not been clearly understood. Based on a political-economy analysis, this paper examines the key cases of regionalism from Europe, Asia and the Americas, and concludes that high-level economic interdependence, stabilized domestic situations (particularly those of leading countries in the region), and a regional structure with a majority of small states jointly lead to the success of regional integration. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]