Introduction: The trade relationship between the European Union (EU) and African coun-tries based on regional groupings, under the framework of Economic Partnership Agree-ment(EPAs) came to play in most countries in January 2008. It replaces the preferential trade treatment granted by the EU under the Lomé convention and Cotonou agreement which allowed African, Carribean and Pacific countries(ACP) greater access to EU markets as a means of leveraging African exports, and encouraging the competitiveness of African economies in the global economy. Method: This work explores basically secondary data sources on EU trade with regional blocs in Africa over the course of the last 27 years. Special attention is given to thematic concerns in the area of intra-regional trade, balance of trade as well as market share. Graphically presentations are utilized in certain instances across the work to serve illustra-tive purposes and to highlight trends established. Conclusion: The study uncovers compelling evidence suggestive of imbalances in trade be-tween the EU and her trading partners in Africa. It is anticipated that these imbalances could shrink export benefits for the African countries concerned. There is reason to be-lieve that problems associated with implementation of EPA‟s, deriving from the distinct development context of the various countries concerned will hamper their development prospects. As it is at the moment, it is quite obvious that these countries will have to live with the consequences of these agreements and strive to cope with new economic realities that seem clearly difficult to reverse.

Abstract This thesis ¡§the Cooperation Partnership between China and ASEAN in the Post-Cold War Era¡¨ is analyzed mainly by functionism approach. By facing the new international situation, namely globalization, China continues to pursue economic modernization. China¡¦s modernization was, is and will be a positive factor for regional stability and economic growth in Asia. At the same time, ASEAN have strong interest in China¡¦s successive economic reform. In this context, China and ASEAN underscored their commitments to handling their cooperation partnership in accordance with the principles of mutual benefits and equality, and agree to promote dialogue for the possibility to establish a free trade area between ASEAN and China. If the cooperation partnership in economic integration does work successively and can spill-over to political cooperation, China and ASEAN will be in the near future as major power to shape the new order in Asia.

<p><em><p>Introduction:</p><p>The trade relationship between the European Union (EU) and African coun-tries based on regional groupings, under the framework of Economic Partnership Agree-ment(EPAs) came to play in most countries in January 2008. It replaces the preferential trade treatment granted by the EU under the Lomé convention and Cotonou agreement which allowed African, Carribean and Pacific countries(ACP) greater access to EU markets as a means of leveraging African exports, and encouraging the competitiveness of African economies in the global economy. <em></em></p><p>Method:</p>This work explores basically secondary data sources on EU trade with regional blocs in Africa over the course of the last 27 years. Special attention is given to thematic concerns in the area of intra-regional trade, balance of trade as well as market share. Graphically presentations are utilized in certain instances across the work to serve illustra-tive purposes and to highlight trends established. <em><p>Conclusion:</p>The study uncovers compelling evidence suggestive of imbalances in trade be-tween the EU and her trading partners in Africa. It is anticipated that these imbalances could shrink export benefits for the African countries concerned. There is reason to be-lieve that problems associated with implementation of EPA‟s, deriving from the distinct development context of the various countries concerned will hamper their development prospects. As it is at the moment, it is quite obvious that these countries will have to live with the consequences of these agreements and strive to cope with new economic realities that seem clearly difficult to reverse. </em></em></p>

Yes / A large body of literature exists in the area of trade integration in various regions of the world (for instance Mongelli, Dorrucci & Agur 2005 for EU; Chen and Nory 2011 for EU; Bouet, Cosnard & Laborde, 2017 for Africa, Athukorala & Yamashita 2006 for East Asia; Bussiere, Fidrmuc and Schnatz 2005 for Central and Eastern European countries). However, not much literature is available on South Asia trade and economic integration. Intra-regional trade just formed only 5% (in absolute terms 23$ billion) of South Asia’s total trade in comparison with the ASEAN region (25%) (World Bank). This is indeed perplexing as the countries within the region even though heterogeneous in terms of size and governed by different political ideologies, yet share similar cultural and historical closeness, high level of poverty and low level of human development (Arora and Ratnasari 2014). Among the factors influencing low formal intra-regional trade are high trade barriers, high level of mistrust among the countries leading to several conflicts especially between India and Pakistan. This chapter examines some of these issues and especially examines the association between low human development, institutional development and regional integration. / The full-text of this chapter will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo - 12 months after publication.

Yes / How, after 1945, did France and Germany succeed in overcoming their rivalry, a rivalry marked by numerous bloody conflicts, to heal the wounds of the past and work towards a common European future? How, after 1994, did Rwanda succeed in overcoming the devastation of the genocide and reconcile its communities, to become a key actor in East African regional integration? These two difficult reconciliations are at first sight very different, but they warrant comparison, in order to gain a better understanding of the strategies which enabled each party in each case to overcome the most unimaginable challenges. Through their respective approaches, addressing the scars of the past and via respectful joint acts of remembrance, France and Germany on the one hand and the Rwandan communities on the other, have been able to rediscover peace and form a desire to work together as well as with their neighbors towards attaining a more prosperous future.

Yes

Yes / This study examines extent of financial cooperation in the South Asia region. This region although heterogeneous in terms of size, political ideologies and level of development yet shares similar historical and cultural closeness, poverty and low level of human development. Further, we also examined the likely factors influencing financial integration in the region. Overall, the results show that among the economic and political factors trade, income levels and political stability are the most important factors in influencing South Asian financial cooperation. The results also strongly support the view that countries more open and integrated through trade are more integrated financially.

The aim of the thesis is to further explore the relationship between economic integration and firm mobility and investment, both from an empirical and a theoretical perspective, with the objective of drawing conclusions on how government policy can be used to strengthen the positive impact of integration on investment, which is crucial in moving and maintaining countries at the forefront of the technology frontier and accelerating economic growth in a world of rapid technical change and high mobility of ideas, goods, services, capital and labor. The first chapter aims to bring together the literature on economic integration, firm mobility and investment. It contains two sections: one dedicated to the literature on FDI and the second covering the literature on firm entry and exit, economic performance and economic and business regulation. In the second chapter I examine the relationship between the Single Market and FDI both in an intra-EU context and from outside the EU. The empirical results show that the impact of the Single Market on FDI differs substantially from one country to another. This finding may be due to the functioning of institutions. The third chapter studies the relationship between the level of external trade protection put into place by a Regional Integration Agreement(RIA)and the option of a firm from outside the RIA block to serve the RIA market through FDI rather than exports. I find that the level of external trade protection put in place by the RIA depends on the RIA country's capacity to benefit from FDI spillovers, the magnitude of set-up costs of building a plant in the RIA and on the amount of external trade protection erected by the country from outside the reigonal block with respect to the RIA. The fourth chapter studies how the firm entry and exit process is affected by product market reforms and regulations and impact macroeconomic performance. The results show that an increase in deregulation will lead to a rise in firm entry and exit. This in turn will especially affect macroeconomic performance as measured by output growth and labor productivity growth. The analysis done at the sector level shows that results can differ substantially across industries, which implies that deregulation policies should be conducted at the sector level, rather than at the global macroeconomic level.

The post-Cold War era has seen a restructuring of the institutions of global governance and an intensification of international relations, to which one of the most important responses has been a reinvigoration of regionalism and regionalisation. The proliferation of regionalism has led to increased relations between regional groups in different world regions, and the EU has been central to the development of this new interregional phenomenon. This thesis sets out to test the theory of interregionalism by looking at how the EU has strategically pursued interregionalism, and at how this has subsequently worked in practice. To best achieve this objective the thesis develops a more sophisticated framework of analysis; complex interregionalism. This framework allows for a detailed investigation of how the EU has simultaneously engaged in bilateral and interregional relations in Latin America. The thesis explores the tensions between interregionalism as a strategy and interregionalism in action, principally by drawing lessons from the EU's relations with Latin America, and Mercosur in particular. The most general foundation for this analysis is the study of International Political Economy (IPE), particularly the extensive literature on regional integration and the emerging literature that deals specifically with interregionalism. The thesis starts by presenting a comprehensive framework for analysis of interregional relations using the theory of interregionalism. The theory of interregionalism, ascribes a series of motivations and impacts that interregionalism. should exhibit, all of which are replicated in EU complex interregional strategy. The EU is found to have a consistent and coherent complex interregional strategy that it employs across three world regions: Asia, Africa and Latin America. The EU, notably the Commission, is pursuing an ambitious complex interregional strategy in each region that encompasses different levels of relations with different actors, but a strategy that always centers on the pursuit of pure interregionalism. Whilst the thesis details the EU's pursuit of this consistent complex interregional strategy with all three of the aforementioned world regions, it is the presence of the Andean Community, Central American Common Market and Mercosur in Latin America that marks the region out for deeper analysis. Complex interregional strategy in Latin America is applied consistently to all three regional integration vehicles, confirming the EU desire to pursue pure interregionalism, most notably with Mercosur. Analysis of EU relations with Mercosur reveals a core tension between strategy and action, notably that Commission strategy is not translated into action, as witnessed by the change towards bilateral relations with Brazil in 2007. The thesis finds that more important than the EU inability to translate strategy into action, is its inability to foster regional integration in its partners and encourage more coherent counterparts for the future pursuit of pure interregionalism.

This thesis tackles issues related to regional integration, trade costs and aid, with empirical work related to the East African Community (EAC). The common thread is the impact of various types of trade costs on the structure and functioning of the economies of EAC member states. The first chapter introduces the literature and chapters 2, 3 and 4 constitute the core of the thesis. Chapter 2 develops a three-good, two-country duality-based general equilibrium model to investigate the effects of different types of aid and preferential trade on welfare and relative prices. The model is innovative in two ways: (i) a regionally tradable good is introduced, the price of which is determined endogenously, (ii) a regional infrastructure good, bought with aid monies, is brought in which lowers trade costs within the region. Using comparative statics, the properties of the model are explored in terms of the effects of tariff and aid shocks on welfare and relative prices. Chapter 3 develops a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model calibrated on Uganda and Kenya to gauge the importance of chapter 2’s results. The regional spill-over is now modeled as regional public capital serving as an input in both countries’ production functions. The simulations show how Kenya effectively exports some of the standard aid-induced real exchange rate appreciation to Uganda through a regional trade channel. Distributionally, Kenya’s urban and Uganda’s rural households win—which corresponds to regional comparative advantage patterns. Abolishing the intra-regional tariff increases welfare in Uganda and reduces it in Kenya, showing the ambiguous welfare results of Customs Unions known since Viner. Chapter 4 gauges the importance of border effects in Eastern Africa by testing the law-ofone- price (LOP) hypothesis on a consumer price data-set covering 24 goods in 39 cities in 4 countries. Using level regressions a significant border effect is found, whilst distance also plays a big role, both between and within countries. Neither the nominal exchange rate, nor non-tariff barriers (NTBs) reduce the border effect very much, even though both variables are significant. Looking at specific goods, markets for staple foods are the most integrated. As for the impact of the Customs Union between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya (since 2005), there is a positive integration effect for the Kenya-Uganda border. Finally, Kenya’s political crisis at the end of 2007 can be linked to higher departures from the LOP throughout the region and can thus be said to have had clear knock-on effects for the landlocked EAC countries that depend on it as a transit country.