Regional integration has gained momentum since the 1980s and throughout the world. The new regionalism process prevailing since differs from the old one by its multidimensionality covering economic, political, social, and cultural issues within a regional setting. While the old regionalism focused on market protection using a range of tariff and non tariff barriers, the New Regionalism is reinforced by the globalisation effects and strives for efficiency in production, and market access. Using the New Regionalisms Approach, the aim of this thesis is to appreciate the actual levels of regional integration in Africa and explore plausible ways of deepening the integration process with the view that regional integration can promote socio-economic development, provided a pro-development approach is privileged in the conception and implementation of the regional integration process. Focusing on SADC as a representative regional economic community, a qualitative content analysis is used for data collection while policy analysis is carried out using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework. The results of this study reveal discrepancies between policy formulation and policy implementation when it comes to enhancing the pro-developmental aspects in the unfolding regional integration process. In spite that shortcomings in past experiences triggered dramatic structural reforms ranging from the reorganisation of the Organisation of African Unity into the African Union, the creation of NEPAD, to structural reforms within regional economic communities with the example of the 2001 restructuring of SADC, empirical evidence shows that little change has occurred at the operational level. Moreover, even policy formulation at the collective-action level still lacks concrete strategies and plans for harmonisation and implementation of regional initiatives. Some of the strategies for deepening the regional integration process would include prioritising regional commitments to external ones and improving policy formulation as well as establishing linkages between different regional policies and strategies.

Questa tesi offre un’analisi complessiva della posizione e del ruolo giocato dall’Argentina nell’economia globale durante l’ultimo decennio, attraverso l’uso di diverse metodologie tipiche dell’analisi economica. La ricerca parte dall’analisi della dimensione economica interna del Paese, fornendo uno studio della struttura produttiva dell’Argentina e del suo sviluppo economico. In seguito l’analisi si focalizza sullo studio delle variabili determinanti dei flussi commerciali dell’Argentina con i suoi partners regionali tramite un’applicazione econometrica del modello gravitazionale. Infine, si concentra sull’analisi del ruolo dell’Argentina nella gestione dell’economia globale studiandone il ruolo nel Fondo Monetario Internazionale, nel G20 e nel MERCOSUR attraverso un approccio di International Political Economy. Il risultato principale è la scoperta dell’esistenza di un collegamento tra la dimensione interna e quella esterna. Infatti la persistente instabilità macroeconomica e inappropriate politiche economiche adottate a livello nazionale provocano una perdita di competitività globale che potrebbe danneggiare nel lungo periodo la performance economica dell’Argentina, ostacolandone il raggiungimento dello status di Paese completamente sviluppato. Inoltre, populismo e nazionalismo economico stanno isolando l’Argentina dal resto della regione sudamericana e dal mondo, portando il Paese verso la condizione di ‘pariah’ nelle relazioni internazionali. / This thesis offers a comprehensive analysis of Argentina’s position and role within the global economy during the last decade, adopting different methodologies of the economic analysis. The focus of the research starts from the analysis of the domestic economic dimension of the country, providing a study of Argentina’s economic structure and development pattern. It then examines the study of the determinants of Argentina’s trading flows with its regional partners with an econometric application of the gravity model of international trade. It finally focuses on the analysis of Argentina’s global inclusion in the management of the global economy through the description of Argentina’s behavior in the IMF, the G20 and MERCOSUR with an approach taken from International Political Economy. The main finding is that there is a link from the internal to the external dimension, since persistent macroeconomic instability and inappropriate economic policies result into a lack of global competitiveness which might affect in the long run the economic performance of Argentina, preventing it from achieving the status of a completely developed country. Moreover, populism and economic nationalism are isolating Argentina from the rest of South America and the world, driving the country to the status of a ‘pariah’ in international relations.

<p>This dissertation explores the potential contributions of the mechanisms for early warning and intelligence sharing to regional security in Africa. The Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) and the Committee on Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) are centrally concerned with the dissemination of information to enable decision-making on continental security. The main focus of the dissertation is on the manner in which the information generated by the CEWS and CISSA can contribute to regional security. In order to analyse the potential contribution of the CEWS and CISSA to regional security, a sound theoretical framework is proposed so as to explore how and why states choose to cooperate, as well as addressing multifaceted cooperation and integration at inter-state, government department and nonstate levels. Constructivist interpretations of international cooperation are utilised to explore the role of ideas, meanings and understandings in shaping behaviour. The focus is placed on the manner in which interaction as provided for by the CEWS and CISSA can shape understandings of reality and potentially impact on the definition of actors&rsquo / interests. This is based on the assumption drawn from security community and epistemic community theory that, enabling the creation of shared meanings and shared knowledge there is the potential for both the CEWS and CISSA to have a positive influence on the choices that stakeholders take in favour of peaceful change.</p>

<p>The Member States of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) have set as their objectives, amongst others, the facilitation of cross-border movement of goods between the territories of the Member States and the promotion of the integration of Member States into the global economy through enhanced trade and investment. Different approaches to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments by Member States and the risk of non-enforcement may lead to legal uncertainty and increased transaction cost for prospective traders, which ultimately act as non-tariff barriers to trade in the region. Trade is critical to Southern Africa, and the ideal is that barriers to trade, of which uncertainty concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments among Member States is one, should be removed. Certainty, predictability, security of transactions, effective remedies and cost are important considerations in investment decision-making / and clear rules for allocating international jurisdiction and providing definite and expedited means of enforcing foreign judgments will facilitate intraregional as well as interregional trade. In addition to trade facilitation, a harmonised recognition and enforcement regime will consolidate economic and political integration in the SACU. An effective scheme for the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil judgments has been regarded as a feature of any economic integration initiative likely to achieve significant integration. While the harmonisation of the rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments has been given priority in other regional economic communities, in particularly the European Union, any similar effort to harmonise the rules on recognition and enforcement of Member States have been conspicuously absent in the SACU &ndash / a situation which needs to receive immediate attention. The thesis considers the approaches followed by the European Union with the Brussels Regime, the federal system of the United States of America under the &lsquo / full faith and credit clause&rsquo / the inter-state recognition scheme under the Australia and New Zealand Trans-Tasman judicial system / as well as the convention-approach of the Latin American States. It finds that the most suitable approach for the SACU is the negotiation and adoption by all SACU Member States of a multilateral convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, comparable to the 1971 Convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law / the EU Brussels I Regulation and the Latin-American Montevideo Convention, as complemented by the La Paz Convention. It is imperative that a proposed convention should not merely duplicate previous efforts, but should be drafted in the light of the legal, political and socio-economic characteristics of the SACU Member States. The current legislative provisions in force in SACU Member States are compared and analysed, and the comparison and analysis form the basis of a proposal for a future instrument on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments for the region. A recommended draft text for a proposed Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments for the SACU is included. This draft text could form the basis for future negotiations by SACU Member States.</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>

<p>The Member States of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) have set as their objectives, amongst others, the facilitation of cross-border movement of goods between the territories of the Member States and the promotion of the integration of Member States into the global economy through enhanced trade and investment. Different approaches to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments by Member States and the risk of non-enforcement may lead to legal uncertainty and increased transaction cost for prospective traders, which ultimately act as non-tariff barriers to trade in the region. Trade is critical to Southern Africa, and the ideal is that barriers to trade, of which uncertainty concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments among Member States is one, should be removed. Certainty, predictability, security of transactions, effective remedies and cost are important considerations in investment decision-making / and clear rules for allocating international jurisdiction and providing definite and expedited means of enforcing foreign judgments will facilitate intraregional as well as interregional trade. In addition to trade facilitation, a harmonised recognition and enforcement regime will consolidate economic and political integration in the SACU. An effective scheme for the mutual recognition and enforcement of civil judgments has been regarded as a feature of any economic integration initiative likely to achieve significant integration. While the harmonisation of the rules on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments has been given priority in other regional economic communities, in particularly the European Union, any similar effort to harmonise the rules on recognition and enforcement of Member States have been conspicuously absent in the SACU &ndash / a situation which needs to receive immediate attention. The thesis considers the approaches followed by the European Union with the Brussels Regime, the federal system of the United States of America under the &lsquo / full faith and credit clause&rsquo / the inter-state recognition scheme under the Australia and New Zealand Trans-Tasman judicial system / as well as the convention-approach of the Latin American States. It finds that the most suitable approach for the SACU is the negotiation and adoption by all SACU Member States of a multilateral convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, comparable to the 1971 Convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law / the EU Brussels I Regulation and the Latin-American Montevideo Convention, as complemented by the La Paz Convention. It is imperative that a proposed convention should not merely duplicate previous efforts, but should be drafted in the light of the legal, political and socio-economic characteristics of the SACU Member States. The current legislative provisions in force in SACU Member States are compared and analysed, and the comparison and analysis form the basis of a proposal for a future instrument on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments for the region. A recommended draft text for a proposed Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments for the SACU is included. This draft text could form the basis for future negotiations by SACU Member States.</p>

Durante a Primeira Reunião de Presidentes da América do Sul, ocorrida em Brasília, no ano de 2000, representantes dos doze Estados independentes do subcontinente acordaram reunir esforços em um plano para Integração da Infraestrutura Regional Sul-Americana (IIRSA). A importância da integração física para a consecução dos objetivos de integração regional foi reafirmada com o lançamento da iniciativa, de abrangência sem precedentes. A presente dissertação analisa as formas pelas quais a IIRSA, com suas particularidades, pode contribuir para o momento atual da integração regional sul-americana. A fim de dar conta do caráter multiescalar da integração física, foi desenvolvida uma abordagem (multi)territorial para o entendimento dos processos de integração regional e apreensão da multiplicidade de interesses neles envolvidos. / During the First Meeting of South American Presidents, held in Brasília, in 2000, representatives of the twelve independent states of the subcontinent have agreed to join forces in a plan for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA). The importance of physical integration to achieve the goals of regional integration was reaffirmed with the launch of the initiative of unprecedented scope. This study examines the ways in which the IIRSA, considering its particular features, can contribute to the current moment of regional integration in South America. In order to account for the multiscale character of physical integration, a (multi)territorial approach was developed in the analysis of the regional integration processes and the understanding of the multiple interests involved therein.

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar as razões e circunstâncias que conduziram os governos da Argentina e do Brasil a dar início a um vigoroso processo de cooperação e integração, a partir de meados da década de 1980, cuja manisfestação foi a assinatura, em novembro de 1985, da Declaração de Iguaçu, pelos Presidentes Raúl Alfonsín e José Sarney. As relações entre a Argentina e o Brasil, até 1979, caracterizaram-se pela predominância de sentimentos de suspicácia e rivalidade. A confiança e a cooperação foram a tônica do relacionamento em breves momentos. As profundas alterações que ocorrem no cenário econômico internacional no final da década de 1970, impusuram sérios limites ao crescimento e ao desenvolvimento de países como a Argentina e o Brasil. O projeto nacional-desenvolvimentista, adotado por esses países desde a década de 1930 e norteador de suas decisões econômicas e político-diplomáticas, passou a ser objeto de questionamentos, especialmente em razão das fragilidades que começaram a vir à tona, expressas nas medíocres performances ecônomicas da Argentina e do Brasil naquele momento. A cena política sub-regional, igualmente, era cenário de profundas transformações. Em ambos países houve o retorno de regimes democráticos. A partir da constatação dos dois governos de que a superação da secular hipótese de conflito e a intensificação dos laços de amizade e cooperação eram fundamentais para a consolidação das democracias e para o enfrentamento e a superação do grave cenário econômico que se configurava em meados de 1980, os Presidentes decidiram levar a cabo um amplo projeto de cooperação e integração regional. Deflagrava-se, então, com a assinatura da Declaração de Iguaçu, um processo virtuoso que pretendia recuperar as economias (a partir de uma releitura nacional-desenvolvimentismo), reinseri-las na cena internacional e consolidar as ainda frágeis democracias. / This study aims at investigating the reasons and circumstances which conducted the Governments of Argentina and Brazil to initiate, in the middle of the decade of 1980, a vigorous process of cooperation and integration, of which the main symbol was the signature of the Iguaçu Declaration, in november 1985, by Presidents Raúl Alfonsín and José Sarney. Until the end of 1979, rivalry and suspicious prevailed in the relations between Argentina and Brazil. Confidence and cooperation were observed in very few moments. The deep changes which occurred in the international economic scenario by the end of the 1970s, imposed serious limits to the economic growth and development of countries such as Argentina and Brazil. The nationaldevelopmentism project, which has been followed by these countries since 1930 and has guided their economic, political and diplomatic decisions, started to be questioned, especially due to the weak economic performance presented by these countries since the beggining of the 1980s. The sub-regional political scenario was equally dramatically changing. In both countries, the military dictatorships were replaced by democratic regimes. The two governments, aware of the necessity to overcome the secular conflict hypothesis and to foster friendship and cooperation ties in order to consolidate both democracies as well as to challenge and to overcome the economic difficulties, decided to initiate a wide project of regional cooperation and integration. Thus, the signature of the Iguaçu Declaration gave birth to a virtuous process which intended to recuperate both national economies (by adopting several theses of the national-developmentism project), to put Argentina and Brazil again in the world scenario and to consolidate the young democracies.

A literatura apresenta divergências em relação à condução da política externa brasileira ao longo dos governos FHC e Lula (1995-2010). Alguns autores enfatizam elementos de ruptura e outros de continuidade entre os dois Presidentes. Da mesma forma, a questão da integração regional sempre esteve presente nas discussões da área de Relações Internacionais, dentro e fora do Brasil. Ao entrar neste debate, esta pesquisa aponta para uma linha de continuidade da ação externa brasileira neste período, acompanhada por um processo de expansão geográfica da projeção do Brasil. Processo este que parte do Mercosul, amplia-se para a América do Sul e em seguida para o restante do mundo. Ao mesmo tempo, verifica-se que o Mercosul permanece como área prioritária para o País nos anos 2000, e se observa uma tentativa de projeção do Brasil como um líder regional. / The literature presents divergences about the conduction of Brazilian foreign policy during the terms of FHC and Lula (1995-2010). Some authors emphasize the elements of rupture and others the elements of continuity between both Presidents. At the same time, the discussion about the regional integration have always been a constant in the Foreign Policy debate, inside and outside Brazil. This research enters this debate and points to a line of continuity of the international action of Brazil during this period, accompanied by a process of geographical expansion of Brazilian projection. This process has its origin in Mercosul, expands to South America and after that to the rest of the world. At the same time, it is verified that Mercosul remains as a priority area to Brazil in the years 2000, and that Brazil tries to project itself as a regional leader.

[pt] A presente tese trata da constituição da União das Nações Sul-Americanas – Unasul à luz do pensamento social e político brasileiro. A Unasul é uma organização internacional composta pelos doze Estados independentes da América do Sul e que almeja estabelecer ampla integração regional conforme seu tratado constitutivo. O Brasil desempenhou um papel fundamental em sua criação devido a seu peso geopolítico no espaço regional. A lógica política subjacente ao processo emula características que são homólogas a uma determinada linhagem do pensamento social e político brasileiro de natureza identitária, que pode ser designada por terminologias diversas: saquarema, idealista orgânica, iberista, desenvolvimentista. / [en] This thesis deals with the constitution of the Union of South American Nations – UNASUL in the light of Brazilian social and political thought. UNASUR is an international organization composed of the twelve independent states of South America and which aims to establish broad regional integration according to its constitutional treaty. Brazil played a fundamental role in its creation due to its geopolitical weight in the regional space. The political logic underlying the process emulates characteristics that are homologous to a particular line of Brazilian social and political thought of an identity nature, which can be termed various terminologies: saquarema, organic idealist, iberista, developmentalist.