以、巴問題是國際上長期難以解決的問題，最原本的根源是猶太人與巴勒斯坦人在巴勒斯坦土地上相互爭取建國的權利而引起的。在以色列建國後，以、巴問題開始牽涉到難民、國家安全、宗教、水資源、被佔領領土與恐怖主義等諸多因素，使得以、巴問題日益複雜，迄今仍無法解決。 　　雖然國際間曾多次嘗試解決以、巴問題，並舉辦過多次和會，也提出過多次和平計畫，但是歷來國際間的努力都成效有限。本論文認為，這是因為歷來的和會與和平計畫不但沒有全面顧及到當事者的立場，也沒有全面考慮到以、巴問題的所有癥結。以、巴問題不只是個政治問題，然而國際間卻欲以政治方法解決之，因而成效不彰。 　　本論文認為，一旦整合有所成果，參與整合的國家間便會因為關係更加密切，進而使發生戰爭的機會大為降低。因此要解決以、巴衝突，必須由促進以、巴間的整合開始。並且考慮到以、巴問題的諸多癥結，因此整合不能僅限於政治層面，而是必須由政治與經濟方面同時進行。本論文認為，在以、巴政治整合方面，應採用安全社區理論；而經濟整合方面應採用共同市場理論。 　　在建構以、巴的和平上，安全社區與共同市場是相輔相成的。安全社區可以幫助共同市場建立良善的市場秩序，共同市場可以幫助安全社區成員達成更深的相互依賴，而唯有在以、巴間的安全社區與共同市場成立後，以、巴間長久且穩固的和平才有可能被真正的建構。 / The conflict between Israel and Palestine is a long-lasting international problem whose origin is that both Jews and Arabs claim their right to found their own nation on Palestinian land. After the founding of Israel, the problem between Israel and Palestine began to involve refugees, national security, religion, water resource, the occupied territories, terrorism, and many other factors. These factors make this problem increasingly complex and still unsolved to this day. Although international community has repeatedly tried to solve the problem between Israel and Palestine, held a number of peace conferences, and also proposed several peace plans, the effect has always been little. I believe that this is because peace plans neither totally took into account the positions of Israel and Palestine nor comprehensively considered all the cruxes of the problem between each party. The problem is not just a political issue, but the international community always wants to solve it through political ways. Once the integration of states works, the participating states will be closer to each other – and set up “interdependence” – and the possibility of war between them will be greatly reduced. Therefore, to solve the problem, we can encourage Israel and Palestine to begin the integration. Taking all cruxes of the problem into consideration, the integration cannot be limited to political level, but both political and economic levels at the same time. I believe that, in the process of integration, “security community theory” must be followed on political level and “common market theory” on the economic level. To make peace between Israel and Palestine, “security community” and “common market” are complementary to each other. “Security community” can help the “common market” establish good market order, and “common market” can help members of the “security community” achieve deeper interdependence. Only after the establishment of the “security community” and the “common market” could the enduring peace between Israel and Palestine be real possible.

This thesis attempts to show that, although it is in the interest of regional common market organizations to regulate foreign direct investment, such regulation will probably be unsuccessful unless the regulations are lenient to business and are not used as instruments of major political goals. The east African Community, the Andean Common Market, and the European Economic Community are examined. Research sources used were United States government publications, documents from the common markets involved, United Nations and International Monetary Fund statistics, articles from major political science and business journals, and books.

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the political factors which came into the creation and implementation of the Andean Foreign Investment Code. This study analyzes the political forces in the creation of the Code and examines the implementation of the Code in each of the Andean countries. This investigation concludes that although the Code has not been implemented uniformly in the Andean countries, it remains an important part of the Andean Common Market. In addition, the continual political consensus among the member countries is emphasized for the continuation of the Andean integration effort.

Regionaler Wirtschaftlicher Integration (RWI) liegt ein doppelter Zielkonflikt (“trade-off“) zugrunde. Zum einen besteht dieser trade-off auf räumlicher Ebene da es sich um eine politische und ökonomische Organisationseinheit zwischen dem Lokalen und Globalen handelt. Zum anderen besteht ein trade-off da sowohl Liberalisierungsansätze innerhalb der Region als auch das Aufrechterhalten (oder gar Erweitern) von Protektionismus gegen die Außenwelt Teil von regionalen Ansätzen sind. Darüber hinaus ist RWI ein facettenreiches, polymorphes und idiosynkratisches Phänomen, das (potentiell) eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Politkfelder und Politikschlagrichtungen enthält. Traditionell wird RWI nach der Klassifizierung von Balassa (1961) in Präferenzabkommen (PTAs), Freihandelsabkommen (FTAs), Zollunionen (CUs) Gemeinsame Märkte (CMs), Währungsunionen (MUs) und ggf. Politische Unionen (PUs) eingeteilt und meist auch eine zeitliche Abfolge in dieser Reihenfolge unterstellt. In Wahrheit finden solche Prozesse teilweise parallel und in vielen Fällen unvollständig statt. Daher erscheint es sinnvoller, in vier verschiedene Kategorien an Politikfeld0ptionen zu unterschieden, nämlich • Präferentielle Liberalisierung von Güterhandel; • Präferentielle Liberalisierung anderer Produktionsfaktoren; • Koordinierung & Harmonisierung von Regularien und Institutionen; • Koordinierung und gemeinsame Verausgabung von öffentlichen Mitteln. Ein solch vielgestaltiges und janusköpfiges Phänomen bezieht seine Rechtfertigung aus einer großen Anzahl an unterschiedlichen theoretischen Schulen. Wir diskutieren diese Schulen in dieser Arbeit in drei separaten Kapiteln zum Neo-Klassischen Ansatz, zu Ansätzen der Politischen Ökonomie sowie zu Heterodoxen Ansätzen. Dabei lassen sich fünf Gruppen von Effekten unterscheiden. Diese sind • Allokationseffekte; • Akkumulationseffekte; • Lokationseffekte; • Levellingeffekte; • Und Gouvernanz-Effekte. Bei der Analyse von RWI sind darüber hinaus Imperfektionen zu beachten, die insbesondere in Afrika eine entscheidende Rolle spielen. Dies bezieht sich insbesondere auf die teilweise sehr schwache Implementation von beschlossenen RWI Maβnahmen, die sich z.B. im „Spaghetti Bowl“ Phänomen, politischen Widerständen auf nationaler Ebene, administrativen Schwächen und massiven Deckungslücken in den Budgets der regionalen Behörden niederschlagen. Auch die Dominanz der Informalität in der Wirtschaft wirft Fragen zur potentiellen Wirkungsmächtigkeit von RWI auf. Während solche „Papiertiger“-Phänomene grundsätzliche Fragen an der Ernsthaftigkeit der jeweiligen Regionalvorhaben aufwerfen, kann die Präsenz solcher Hürden auch Grund für Optimismus sein da die empirisch bislang beobachteten, relativ geringen Wohlfahrtseffekte zu einem substantiellen Anteil auf die geringe Implementierungstiefe zurückgeführt werden können und nicht zwangsläufig ein Beleg für die Ineffektivität von RWI per se gesehen werden muss. Mit anderen Worten, eine wirkliche empirische Überprüfung des Erfolgs oder Versagens von RWI in Entwicklungsländern könnte erst stattfinden, wenn es tatsächlich ordnungsgemäß umgesetzt würde. Der bekannteste und am umfangreichsten entwickelte Ansatz zur Analyse der Effekte von RWI ist fraglos der Neo-klassische Ansatz, der sich grundlegend und ausschlieβlich mit der auf Viner zurückgehenden Gegenüberstellung von Handelsschaffung und Handelsumlenkung. Wir zeigen, dass die neoklassischen empirischen Methoden und Resultate trotz Tausender Studien wenig robust sind und zu einem Gutteil arbiträr gewählt sind. Kleinste Änderungen in Modell-Parametern, der empirischen Strategie oder den Datenquellen führen zu stark abweichenden Resultaten. Grundsätzlich scheint Handelsumlenkung weniger stark ausgeprägt zu sein als Handelsschaffung, der Netto-Effekt für die Regionen scheint also aus dieser Perspektive in den allermeisten Fällen positiv zu sein (dies zeigen sowohl Sekundärstudien als auch eigene Berechnungen). Es gibt sowohl Gewinner als auch Verlierer innerhalb der Regionen. Allerdings scheinen diese nicht wie vom Neoklassischen Ansatz vorhergesagt, durch die anfängliche ökonomische Machtverteilung vorherbestimmt zu sein. Dennoch bleibt die axiomatische Inferiorität von RWI zwischen Entwicklungsländern gegenüber multilateraler Liberalisierung (sowie Nord-Süd Integration und unilateraler Liberalisierung) intakt, solange die Analyse auf diese Perspektive beschränkt bleibt. Dies wirft die Frage auf, warum es dann sein kann, dass Regionalintegration so weit verbreitet ist – sowohl die Analysen aus Politökonomischer Sicht als auch jene aus Heterodoxer Sicht versuchen jeweils Antwort auf dieses scheinbare Rätsel zu geben. Darüber hinaus mündet eine unvoreingenommen und holistische Analyse von Regionalintegration innerhalb des Neoklassischen Ansatzes in einer fundamentale Erkenntnis, die überraschenderweise nur selten in der Literatur diskutiert wird. Ein näherer Blick auf die jeweiligen Schätzungen offenbart, dass selbst die optimistischsten Berechnungen in Größenordnungen enden, die absolut vernachlässigbar sind im Verhältnis zu generellen Wachstumsdynamiken, da es sich bei den Effizienzgewinnen aus Allokationseffekten um Einmal-Effekte in Höhe von unter einem Prozent des BIP handelt. Dies trifft interessanterweise nicht nur auf RWI zu, sondern auch für eine mögliche allumfassende multilaterale Liberalisierung. Diese eklatante Bedeutungslosigkeit der allokationsbedingten Handelsschaffung von sowohl RWI als auch multilateraler Liberalisierung wirft in unseren Augen mehr Fragen bezüglich der Zweckdienlichkeit des Neoklassischen Ansatzes auf, als bezüglich des Entwicklungs- und Wachstumspotentials von Regionalintegration. Allerdings stellt sich die Frage, warum dieser Analyse dann ein solch großer Raum beigemessen wird. Der Hauptgrund scheint, wie in vielen anderen Bereichen der Volkswirtschaft auch, weniger der Umstand zu sein, dass die Einsicht fehlt, dass diese Analysen die Realität nur unzureichend ab- und nachbilden, sondern vielmehr, dass von vielen Autoren mehr Wert auf eine elegante, mathematisch raffinierte und zumindest scheinbar klar quantifizierte und eindeutige Ergebnisse liefernde Methode setzen wollen als auf eine, bei der die Disziplin methodisch bestenfalls in den Anfangsschuhen steckt, Datengrundlagen in substantiellem Umfang fehlen und Ungewissheiten aufgrund der Komplexität kaum abschließend überwunden werden können. An zweiter Stelle folgt in Bezug auf Popularität und Anzahl an Studien ein spieltheoretischer Ansatz der Politischen Ökonomie. Hierbei wird der Frage nachgegangen, warum Regionalintegration betrieben wird, obwohl der Neoklassische Ansatz (scheinbar) nachweist, das seine multilaterale Lösung zu präferieren wäre. Als Grund wird hierbei der Einfluss von Lobbyisten und anderen Interessengruppen angenommen. Die Diskussion widmet sich im weiteren Verlauf fast ausschließlich der Frage, ob eine solcherart zustande gekommene Regionalintegration weitere, multilaterale Liberalisierungsschritte beflügelt und behindert. Allerdings ist der Erkenntnisgewinn aus den unzähligen Studien und Modellen äußerst überschaubar. Andere wichtige Ansätze für die Analyse von RWI erhalten deutlich weniger Aufmerksamkeit in der wissenschaftlichen Diskussion, obwohl diese heterodoxen Ansätze, die den Fokus auf dynamische Effekte und Strukturwandel legen, in der öffentlichen Debatte eine nicht unbedeutende Rolle spielen. Diesen Ansätzen ist gemein, dass sie einen Fokus auf Marktversagen und Externalitäten legen. Das Triumvirat der Neuen Handelstheorie, der Neuen der Diskussionen, wobei zusätzlich einige Keynesianische Einflüsse, der Neue Institutionalismus (sowie praxisorientierte Aspekte der Öffentlichen Finanzen) und einige radikalere Ansätze mit Ökonomischen Geografie und der Neuen Endogenen Wachstumstheorie bildet hierbei den Kern Fokus auf Arbeitsmärkte und Entwicklungsfallen eine Rolle spielen. Heterodoxe, dynamische Effekte sind sehr komplex und divers und die theoretische und empirische Anwendung auf Regionalismus ist nur sehr schwach entwickelt. Einige heterodoxe Argument ändern die Resultate der Neoklassischen Theorie nur in beschränktem Umfang und zeigen sowohl Vorteile und Nachteile von regionalen und multilateralen Liberalisierungsschritten. Einige andere heterodoxe / dynamische Effekte treten entweder ausschließlich bei RWI auf oder zu einem deutlichen geringeren Maβe auch im Gefolge von Multilateralismus und Nord-Süd Integration. Einige davon haben unserer Einschätzung nach tatsächlich das Potential, die Neoklassischen Argumente zur Dominanz von multilateralen Lösungen komplett ins Gegenteil zu verkehren. Leider ist die empirische Analyse von dynamischen Effekten jedoch sehr schlecht entwickelt. Dennoch erscheinen Schätzungen aufgrund von dynamischen Modellen “sufficiently specified to suggest that the benefits behind the dynamics of integration are potentially large” (Develin & French-Davis, 1998:20). Die Komplexität der heterodoxen Effekte impliziert, dass komplizierte Entscheidungen zur Auswahl von spezifischen Maβnahmen getroffen werden müssen. Auch wenn Regionalismus dynamische Effekte auslösen kann, ist dies keineswegs ein Automatismus, der aus jeglichen regionalen Anstrengungen entspringt. Rodrik’s Kommentar zu Industriepolitik paraphrasierend, sollte daher in Zukunft weniger der Frage nachgegangen werden, ob Regionalismus unter Entwicklungsländern eine gute Politikwahl ist, sondern eher, wie Regionalismus ausgebildet werden muss, um erfolgreich Entwicklungsimpulse geben zu können.

A partir da década de 1980, passou-se a adotar um regime de transporte internacional mais condizente com a redução de custos operacionais e com a facilidade de contratação. Esse misto de operação de transporte com aspectos contratuais específicos fora denominado transporte multimodal, sendo utilizado também para o fortalecimento da integração regional em transportes no âmbito de blocos econômicos regionais. A preocupação inicial de organizações internacionais tais como a CNUCED, CNUDCI, OMI, OACI e de órgão privados internacionais tais como a CCI, ATAI, CMI foi fundamental no despertar da sociedade internacional para o papel essencial dos transportes no comércio internacional, sendo protagonista de várias modificações no cenário global. No plano regional mercosulista, essa preocupação com os temas relacionados aos transportes também foi abordado por meio do estabelecimento de regras relacionadas ao transporte multimodal de cargas, seguindo o modelo convencional estabelecido na Associação Latino-Americana de Integração, com a implementação do Acordo parcial para a facilitação do transporte multimodal nos Estados-partes do Mercosul de 1994. O objetivo do presente estudo é realizar uma avaliação dos desafios e dos limites jurídicos estabelecidos atualmente para a consecução da eficiência da multimodalidade no Mercosul, tal como estabelecido desde o Acordo de 1994. Avaliaram-se as regras convencionais atuais relevantes para o estudo da regulamentação do transporte multimodal por meio da política de transporte; do regime jurídico do Acordo de Ministros de 1996, das regras CCI-CNUCED; dos regimes nacionais do transporte multimodal na Argentina, Brasil, Paraguai e Uruguai e o impacto das novas Regras de Roterdã da CNUDCI de 2009. Em seguida, passou-se à interpretação da viabilidade da aplicação da multimodalidade na conjuntura institucional atual da integração mercosulista. A relevância do presente estudo se dá por ser um instrumento de avaliação da opção pela implementação da multimodalidade no Mercosul, baseando-se em estudo de normas jurídicas sub-regionais. Como conclusão, é perceptível a falta de harmonização de regras de transporte multimodal no Mercosul, de tal maneira que a legislação mercosulista não está baseada em um regime normativo propício para a eliminação ou redução de custos da integração regional por meio da multimodalidade. / Since eighty years, economic agents have adopted an international transport regime more appropriated for operational costs reductions and facilities on contracting. This mixture of transport operation and specifics contractual aspects were named multimodal transport and were also used for strengthen regional economic integration on transports in economics regions. Some main preoccupations of international organizations e. g. UNCTAD, UNCITRAL, IMO, ICAO and international private entities e. g. ICC, IATA, IMC were fundamental to international society in playing the part of international commercial transport. In Southern Common Market regional plan this concern related to transport also was broached by establishing rules to multimodal transport as the model of Latin American Association of Integration on the Partial agreement to the facilitation of multimodal transport in Members States of Southern Common Market of 1994. The objective of this studying is to analyze challenges and legal limits established nowadays to the efficiency of multimodal transport on Southern Common Market since 1994 Agreement. It was evaluated some treaties related to multimodal transport regulation, legal regime of Ministers Agreement of 1996, ICC-UNCTAD Rules, national regimes of multimodal transport in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and the impact of new UNCITRAL Rotterdam Rules of 2009. Besides that it was evaluated the feasibility to multimodal transport in Southern Common Market integration. The main importance of this studying is to be an instrument of evaluation of the application of multimodal transport in Southern Common Market through regional legal rules. As conclusion it is perceptible the absence of harmonization on multimodal transport that prove an existence of a non propitious legal regime to eliminate or reduce regional integration costs through multimodal operations.

A abertura econômica (1990) e a consolidação do tratado do Mercosul (1995) provocaram mudanças nas estruturas de produção e comercialização da cebola no Brasil na década de 90. A principal mudança observada foi com a integração comercial entre Brasil e Argentina, quando o mercado brasileiro (que era auto-suficiente) passou a ter maior participação da cebola do país vizinho e os agentes do mercado passaram a diferenciar produto estrangeiro em relação ao doméstico. Assim, o presente trabalho procurou estimar funções de oferta e demanda do bulbo importado para o Brasil. Para análise foram desenvolvidos um modelo teórico e um modelo gráfico, que auxiliaram na especificação do modelo econométrico para o produto em estudo. O modelo foi ajustado por equações simultâneas utilizando o método de Mínimos Quadrados de Dois Estágios. Os coeficientes encontrados apresentaram sinais coerentes com o modelo econômico teórico definido. Os resultados obtidos permitiram interpretar a dinâmica do mercado importador de cebola argentina. Ficou claro que há um efeito importante do preço (e, portanto, da disponibilidade) de cebola nacional sobre o preço que será pago à cebola argentina. Os argentinos comportam-se como tomadores de preços e são altamente sensíveis ao comportamento do mercado brasileiro. O volume exportado pelos argentinos responde expressivamente ao preço pago no Brasil e à taxa de câmbio da moeda brasileira. O Mercosul gerou uma efetiva integração do mercado da cebola entre Brasil e Argentina, a qual trouxe conseqüências para a produção e o consumo em ambos. / The economic market opening (1990) and the consolidation of the Mercosul agreement (1995) promoted changes in the framework of production and marketing of onion in Brazil in the 1990’s. The main change noticed was the market integration between Brazil and Argentina, when the Brazilian market - which was self-sufficient then - started to have more participation in the market of the neighbor country and the market agents started to differ foreign from domestic products. Thus, this current study aimed to estimate the supply and demand for the bulb imported to Brazil. For the analysis, a theoretical and a graphic model were developed, which helped specify the econometric model for the product of study. The model was adjusted by the simultaneous equations of Minimum Square of Two Stages. The coefficients found showed coherent signs to the defined economic theoretical model. The results obtained allowed to interpret the dynamic of the Argentine onion importing market. It was clear that there is an important effect of price (and, therefore, of the availability) of domestic onion to the price which will be paid for the Argentine onion. The Argentine behaves as price takers and are highly sensitive to the Brazilian market behavior. The amount exported by the Argentina are affected expressively the prices practiced in Brazil and by the exchange rate of the Brazilian currency. The Mercosul generated an effective integration between Brazil and Argentina, which has brought consequences to the production and consumption in both countries.

A partir da década de 1980, passou-se a adotar um regime de transporte internacional mais condizente com a redução de custos operacionais e com a facilidade de contratação. Esse misto de operação de transporte com aspectos contratuais específicos fora denominado transporte multimodal, sendo utilizado também para o fortalecimento da integração regional em transportes no âmbito de blocos econômicos regionais. A preocupação inicial de organizações internacionais tais como a CNUCED, CNUDCI, OMI, OACI e de órgão privados internacionais tais como a CCI, ATAI, CMI foi fundamental no despertar da sociedade internacional para o papel essencial dos transportes no comércio internacional, sendo protagonista de várias modificações no cenário global. No plano regional mercosulista, essa preocupação com os temas relacionados aos transportes também foi abordado por meio do estabelecimento de regras relacionadas ao transporte multimodal de cargas, seguindo o modelo convencional estabelecido na Associação Latino-Americana de Integração, com a implementação do Acordo parcial para a facilitação do transporte multimodal nos Estados-partes do Mercosul de 1994. O objetivo do presente estudo é realizar uma avaliação dos desafios e dos limites jurídicos estabelecidos atualmente para a consecução da eficiência da multimodalidade no Mercosul, tal como estabelecido desde o Acordo de 1994. Avaliaram-se as regras convencionais atuais relevantes para o estudo da regulamentação do transporte multimodal por meio da política de transporte; do regime jurídico do Acordo de Ministros de 1996, das regras CCI-CNUCED; dos regimes nacionais do transporte multimodal na Argentina, Brasil, Paraguai e Uruguai e o impacto das novas Regras de Roterdã da CNUDCI de 2009. Em seguida, passou-se à interpretação da viabilidade da aplicação da multimodalidade na conjuntura institucional atual da integração mercosulista. A relevância do presente estudo se dá por ser um instrumento de avaliação da opção pela implementação da multimodalidade no Mercosul, baseando-se em estudo de normas jurídicas sub-regionais. Como conclusão, é perceptível a falta de harmonização de regras de transporte multimodal no Mercosul, de tal maneira que a legislação mercosulista não está baseada em um regime normativo propício para a eliminação ou redução de custos da integração regional por meio da multimodalidade. / Since eighty years, economic agents have adopted an international transport regime more appropriated for operational costs reductions and facilities on contracting. This mixture of transport operation and specifics contractual aspects were named multimodal transport and were also used for strengthen regional economic integration on transports in economics regions. Some main preoccupations of international organizations e. g. UNCTAD, UNCITRAL, IMO, ICAO and international private entities e. g. ICC, IATA, IMC were fundamental to international society in playing the part of international commercial transport. In Southern Common Market regional plan this concern related to transport also was broached by establishing rules to multimodal transport as the model of Latin American Association of Integration on the Partial agreement to the facilitation of multimodal transport in Members States of Southern Common Market of 1994. The objective of this studying is to analyze challenges and legal limits established nowadays to the efficiency of multimodal transport on Southern Common Market since 1994 Agreement. It was evaluated some treaties related to multimodal transport regulation, legal regime of Ministers Agreement of 1996, ICC-UNCTAD Rules, national regimes of multimodal transport in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and the impact of new UNCITRAL Rotterdam Rules of 2009. Besides that it was evaluated the feasibility to multimodal transport in Southern Common Market integration. The main importance of this studying is to be an instrument of evaluation of the application of multimodal transport in Southern Common Market through regional legal rules. As conclusion it is perceptible the absence of harmonization on multimodal transport that prove an existence of a non propitious legal regime to eliminate or reduce regional integration costs through multimodal operations.

<p>The tri-partite initiative in and for Africa has been accompanied by high levels of optimism since its political endorsement in 2008. It provides for an opportunity to resolve a host of problems with regards to regional integration in Eastern and Southern Africa. The overall aim of this study is to explore the prospects and challenges towards realising the Tri-partite Free Trade Area&nbsp / (T-FTA) in and for Africa. This study is pragmatic and implicitly seeks to uncover how the T-FTA could contribute to the African Regional Integration Project (ARIP), given the challenges that&nbsp / regional integration face in Africa. Regional integration has a long and rich history in Africa, which started at thehave been weak since the start and persist in its superficial nature with littledevelopmental impact. The reasons for the lack of meaningful integration in Africa are wide-ranging and span national, regional and system level analytical viewpoints. They encompass&nbsp / areas such as developmental levels, political will, respect for regional architecture, overlapping membership and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). These factors impact on the&nbsp / integration process in Africa and explain in varied ways why there has been little comprehensive economic integration. The starting point was to define the complex concept of regional integration. The dominant factors that define and affect regional integration in this study are that it is a state-based exercise, driven by economic integration, and influenced by the global political economy of the day. It was determined that Africa has adapted its regional integration strategies according to the shifts and influences in the global political economy on states,&nbsp / emanating from the post WWII period to the present day. The mpact of the global economy on Africa since independence was great and is viewed impact on the integration process. Regional integration is essentially a state to state&nbsp / pursuit for integration. Essentially, regional integration is being pursued by states that are still struggling to consolidate statehood, and this leaves little space to move towards a regional approach. However, given the dynamics of a globalised world, regional integration as a strategy is no longer questioned in Africa and is an important component of its developmental agenda. Clarifying the T-FTA was important, and this was done in order to highlight what the tri-partite initiative is and is not. This provided for an opportunity to&nbsp / investigate what the dominant areas are that have informed the emergence of the tri-partite process. The former was found to be largely economic in nature, focusing on harmonising the trade&nbsp / regimes of COMESA, EAC and SADC as a primary motivation. The tri-partite initiative will facilitate and encourage the harmonisation of trade regimes by stressing market integration,&nbsp / infrastructure development and industrialisation, coupled by a developmental approach. This is promising, as the tri-partite initiative seeks to simultaneously deal with many issues that have&nbsp / been commonly associated with the problems that regional integration face in Africa. When viewing the negotiating context, as well as the principles upon which it is to be based, indicate though, that Africa still favours individual state interest that will be hard to reconcile given that the tri-partite region currently has 26 participant states. In terms of economic integration, the T-FTA&nbsp / seeks to put new generation trade issues on the agenda by including services, movement of persons as well as trade facilitation, all of which have been found to be important in realising a&nbsp / trade in goods agenda that is the focus of regional integration in Africa. Analysing the grassroots realities of the market integration pillar offered some valuable insights towards the purposes&nbsp / of this study. The market integration pillar is inundated with challenges, with Rules of Origin (RoO) being the primary challenge towards consolidating the trade in goods agenda on a tri-partite&nbsp / level. New generation trade issues are going to be equally difficult to realise, given that they have no implementation record in the individual Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Promising though is that trade facilitation has already seen positive results by resolving non tariff barriers in the regions.Infrastructure development is equally challenging, although it provides&nbsp / a significant opportunity to create better connectivity (physical integration) between states. In lot of pan-African goals that directly feed into initiatives of the African Union (AU) pillar has not as yet created any concrete tri-partite plans, so it remains to be seen what can be achieved. Ideally, industrialisation is viewed as the pillar that will solve the supply-side constraints of African&nbsp / economies hence, strengthening the trade in goods agenda in the regions. Even though the T-FTA has practical challenges to implementation, there are at least two underlying factors that&nbsp / indirectly affect the prospects of realising the tripartite initiative. The EPAs are an emergent threat in that they run parallel to tripartite negotiations / and respect for a rules based integration process, are issues that warrant consideration. Fundamentally, in order to achieve a successful T-FTA will require a shift in the way business is done in African integration. African states need&nbsp / to realise that their national interests are best served through cooperation, in meaningful ways. Inevitably this requires good faith as well as ceding some sovereignty towards regional goals. Thus, there is a risk that the T-FTA not realised. The fundamentals of political will, economic polarisation and instability have to be resolved. This will lay an appropriate foundation for the&nbsp / tripartite initiative to be sustainable, with developmental impact. </p>

<p>The tri-partite initiative in and for Africa has been accompanied by high levels of optimism since its political endorsement in 2008. It provides for an opportunity to resolve a host of problems with regards to regional integration in Eastern and Southern Africa. The overall aim of this study is to explore the prospects and challenges towards realising the Tri-partite Free Trade Area&nbsp / (T-FTA) in and for Africa. This study is pragmatic and implicitly seeks to uncover how the T-FTA could contribute to the African Regional Integration Project (ARIP), given the challenges that&nbsp / regional integration face in Africa. Regional integration has a long and rich history in Africa, which started at thehave been weak since the start and persist in its superficial nature with littledevelopmental impact. The reasons for the lack of meaningful integration in Africa are wide-ranging and span national, regional and system level analytical viewpoints. They encompass&nbsp / areas such as developmental levels, political will, respect for regional architecture, overlapping membership and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). These factors impact on the&nbsp / integration process in Africa and explain in varied ways why there has been little comprehensive economic integration. The starting point was to define the complex concept of regional integration. The dominant factors that define and affect regional integration in this study are that it is a state-based exercise, driven by economic integration, and influenced by the global political economy of the day. It was determined that Africa has adapted its regional integration strategies according to the shifts and influences in the global political economy on states,&nbsp / emanating from the post WWII period to the present day. The mpact of the global economy on Africa since independence was great and is viewed impact on the integration process. Regional integration is essentially a state to state&nbsp / pursuit for integration. Essentially, regional integration is being pursued by states that are still struggling to consolidate statehood, and this leaves little space to move towards a regional approach. However, given the dynamics of a globalised world, regional integration as a strategy is no longer questioned in Africa and is an important component of its developmental agenda. Clarifying the T-FTA was important, and this was done in order to highlight what the tri-partite initiative is and is not. This provided for an opportunity to&nbsp / investigate what the dominant areas are that have informed the emergence of the tri-partite process. The former was found to be largely economic in nature, focusing on harmonising the trade&nbsp / regimes of COMESA, EAC and SADC as a primary motivation. The tri-partite initiative will facilitate and encourage the harmonisation of trade regimes by stressing market integration,&nbsp / infrastructure development and industrialisation, coupled by a developmental approach. This is promising, as the tri-partite initiative seeks to simultaneously deal with many issues that have&nbsp / been commonly associated with the problems that regional integration face in Africa. When viewing the negotiating context, as well as the principles upon which it is to be based, indicate though, that Africa still favours individual state interest that will be hard to reconcile given that the tri-partite region currently has 26 participant states. In terms of economic integration, the T-FTA&nbsp / seeks to put new generation trade issues on the agenda by including services, movement of persons as well as trade facilitation, all of which have been found to be important in realising a&nbsp / trade in goods agenda that is the focus of regional integration in Africa. Analysing the grassroots realities of the market integration pillar offered some valuable insights towards the purposes&nbsp / of this study. The market integration pillar is inundated with challenges, with Rules of Origin (RoO) being the primary challenge towards consolidating the trade in goods agenda on a tri-partite&nbsp / level. New generation trade issues are going to be equally difficult to realise, given that they have no implementation record in the individual Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Promising though is that trade facilitation has already seen positive results by resolving non tariff barriers in the regions.Infrastructure development is equally challenging, although it provides&nbsp / a significant opportunity to create better connectivity (physical integration) between states. In lot of pan-African goals that directly feed into initiatives of the African Union (AU) pillar has not as yet created any concrete tri-partite plans, so it remains to be seen what can be achieved. Ideally, industrialisation is viewed as the pillar that will solve the supply-side constraints of African&nbsp / economies hence, strengthening the trade in goods agenda in the regions. Even though the T-FTA has practical challenges to implementation, there are at least two underlying factors that&nbsp / indirectly affect the prospects of realising the tripartite initiative. The EPAs are an emergent threat in that they run parallel to tripartite negotiations / and respect for a rules based integration process, are issues that warrant consideration. Fundamentally, in order to achieve a successful T-FTA will require a shift in the way business is done in African integration. African states need&nbsp / to realise that their national interests are best served through cooperation, in meaningful ways. Inevitably this requires good faith as well as ceding some sovereignty towards regional goals. Thus, there is a risk that the T-FTA not realised. The fundamentals of political will, economic polarisation and instability have to be resolved. This will lay an appropriate foundation for the&nbsp / tripartite initiative to be sustainable, with developmental impact. </p>

Zugl.: Bielefeld, Univ., Diss., 2008