The regional economic community (REC) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) compri'ses 15 Southern African countries. The' economic and political aspects of regional integration in SADC dictate the pace of integration while the influence of a legal regime for regional integration remains at the periphery. While the SADC Treaty and its Protocol on Trade are clear about the priority of economic integration; the full implementation of SADC's economic integration is still yet to be realised using these legal instruments. Regional economic integration is also a priority at both continental and global level. The legal instruments applicable at these levels are those established through the African Union (AU) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) respectively. Analysis of these external legal instruments is relevant because SADC Member States are signatories to agreements establishing these organisations·. Thus, rules based trade in SADC should be understood from a regional, continental and global perspective where a community must have well-structured and managed relations between itself and other legal systems as a necessary condition for its effectiveness. These structured relations refers to a legal and institutional framework that defines the relations between community and national laws, spelling out the modalities for implementing community law in Member States, defines the respective competencies of the community and Member States and provide rule based systems for resolution of conflicts. In setting the scene for an in-depth discussion of the legal and institutional framework for regional economic integration in SADC, this study presents the history of SADC, its political and economic characteristics that have shaped the legal aspects of trade within the region, the continent of Africa and the world at large. Within this context, the definition of regional integration is presented from a general and international understanding but ultimately gets narrowed down to what it means for Africa and SADC. The discussion on the · theories behind regional economic integration gives understanding to the integration approach employed in the organisation. South Africa's economic and political leadership is critical in the realisation of economic integration; hence this study acknowledges that without South Africa's full commitment; regional economic integration will suffer .a setback. Besides the challenge of implementing rules based trade in SADC, this study also identifies a number of obstacles to SADC regional economic integration and multiple memberships are identified as a: major stumbling block. A comparative study of SADC's institutional framework with that of the E1;Jropean Union· (EU) is undertaken to establish the rationale behind SADC's choice of utilising the EU model of integration. This study establishes the critical role institutions play in the implementation of treaty obligations as established by the agreements. The main lesson from this comparative study is that the EU institutions are allowed to fulfill their obligations of implementing treaty provisions, while SADC institutions are handicapped. The future of SADC is presented within the context of a set of recommendations that identifies the tripartite free trade area (FTA) that includes the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as one of viable legal instrument for deeper integration in SADC and the continent of Africa. General recommendations are made on the need for reform of rules and principles that are necessary for the implementation of SADC Treaty regime as well as possible improvements that are important for the full realisation of regional economic integration. / PhD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The regional economic community (REC) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) compri'ses 15 Southern African countries. The' economic and political aspects of regional integration in SADC dictate the pace of integration while the influence of a legal regime for regional integration remains at the periphery. While the SADC Treaty and its Protocol on Trade are clear about the priority of economic integration; the full implementation of SADC's economic integration is still yet to be realised using these legal instruments. Regional economic integration is also a priority at both continental and global level. The legal instruments applicable at these levels are those established through the African Union (AU) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) respectively. Analysis of these external legal instruments is relevant because SADC Member States are signatories to agreements establishing these organisations·. Thus, rules based trade in SADC should be understood from a regional, continental and global perspective where a community must have well-structured and managed relations between itself and other legal systems as a necessary condition for its effectiveness. These structured relations refers to a legal and institutional framework that defines the relations between community and national laws, spelling out the modalities for implementing community law in Member States, defines the respective competencies of the community and Member States and provide rule based systems for resolution of conflicts. In setting the scene for an in-depth discussion of the legal and institutional framework for regional economic integration in SADC, this study presents the history of SADC, its political and economic characteristics that have shaped the legal aspects of trade within the region, the continent of Africa and the world at large. Within this context, the definition of regional integration is presented from a general and international understanding but ultimately gets narrowed down to what it means for Africa and SADC. The discussion on the · theories behind regional economic integration gives understanding to the integration approach employed in the organisation. South Africa's economic and political leadership is critical in the realisation of economic integration; hence this study acknowledges that without South Africa's full commitment; regional economic integration will suffer .a setback. Besides the challenge of implementing rules based trade in SADC, this study also identifies a number of obstacles to SADC regional economic integration and multiple memberships are identified as a: major stumbling block. A comparative study of SADC's institutional framework with that of the E1;Jropean Union· (EU) is undertaken to establish the rationale behind SADC's choice of utilising the EU model of integration. This study establishes the critical role institutions play in the implementation of treaty obligations as established by the agreements. The main lesson from this comparative study is that the EU institutions are allowed to fulfill their obligations of implementing treaty provisions, while SADC institutions are handicapped. The future of SADC is presented within the context of a set of recommendations that identifies the tripartite free trade area (FTA) that includes the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as one of viable legal instrument for deeper integration in SADC and the continent of Africa. General recommendations are made on the need for reform of rules and principles that are necessary for the implementation of SADC Treaty regime as well as possible improvements that are important for the full realisation of regional economic integration. / PhD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The impetus for regional integration draws its rationale from the standard international trade theory, which states that free trade is beneficial to all. Free trade among two or more countries or preferential trade will improve the welfare of the member countries as long as the arrangement leads to a net trade creation in the Vinerian sense. The history of regional economic integration in Southern Africa (SADC) reveals that it has not yet achieved the economic benefits that are attributable to developing regions, namely: higher levels of welfare exemplified by low poverty levels, economic development and industrialisation. Regional economic integration in Southern Africa is constrained by high tariff and non-tariff barriers, archaic infrastructures and multiple memberships among different regional economic communities. A SADC-wide customs union can be successful, provided that countries are allowed to join, when their economies have adjusted and the South African Customs Union (SACU) is used as a nucleus. / Economics / M. A. (Economics)

No abstract available / Political Sciences / M. A. (International Politics)

The study utilizes regional integration theories like neo-functionalism, intergovernmentalism and new regionalism to analyse the formation, structure and transformation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It examines the role of ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic body and its transformation to a political and security body dealing with sub-regional conflict resolution. Though neo-functionalism is generally analysed in reference to European regional integration, the study attempts to draw some lessons from this theory. Also, new regionalism theory is utilized to examine the transformation of ECOWAS from a mere economic body to a security and political entity. Regionalism in West Africa was initially geared towards mere economic cooperation; however, the emergence of ECOWAS on the scene and its subsequent transformation witnessed several changes towards the path of security cooperation. Despite its involvement with the gigantic political and security related activities, a general evaluation of economic integration in West Africa depicts a low level of progress. The poor state of sub-regional economic integration shows that ECOWAS did not complete its regional economic integration agenda before diverting to other sectors of integration. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been the dominant topic in sub-regional conflict resolution in West Africa. However, other forms of conflict resolution, including mediation, negotiation, conciliation and arbitration have been severally utilized. Also, in some of the cases, peacekeeping operations have been deployed only after other peaceful efforts have failed. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations are divergent operations with different forms and mandates. Therefore, they are better analysed under the framework of peacekeeping, peace-enforcement and peace-making theories. ECOWAS peacekeeping operations have been a subject of debate by proponents of the principle of non-interference and those of the responsibility to protect. The expediency of military intervention for humanitarian reasons as well as the prevention of genocide, war crimes and catastrophic loss of lives has questioned the principle of non-interference and validated the principle of responsibility to protect. / Political Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (International Politics)

多邊主義下帶動之「全球化」及區域主義下所帶動之「區域化」皆已成為現階段國際經貿發展的兩股重要潮流，透過洽簽自由貿易協定所達到之區域經濟整合，在區域內可消除絕大部份之關稅及非關稅貿易障礙，預計將有助於增進會員國間之貿易量，形成貿易創造效果，而或對於非會員國造成貿易轉向效果。故其將影響國際貿易的流向，國際資源的重分配，進而改變國際分工型態。 為瞭解區域經濟整合對於貿易流量的影響，本文首先將就區域經濟整合之定義與法源、區域經濟整合發展與現況、及台灣與各主要區域經濟整合之貿易概況進行概述。鑒於引力模型可有效的分析雙邊的貿易流量，本文針對該模型之相關文獻及實證歸納與整理，並利用引力模型，選擇全球六個重要區域經濟組織包括北美自由貿易區、歐盟、東協自由貿易區、南方共同市場、安地略集團及紐澳緊密關係協定等區域共計37個國家，以設定虛擬變數之方式實證1990年至2003年長達13年間各區域經濟整合的過程中，其對於區內會員國及對非屬會員國進、出口貿易流量之影響，特別是整合過程中對台灣是否產生貿易轉向之現象進行實證研究，並分析影響貿易流量之因素。 本實證研究發現影響二國間貿易流量的因素分別為出、進口國之國民生產毛額及人均國民生產毛額，以及距離。區域經濟整合具有明顯的貿易創造效果，而貿易轉向效果則隨經濟整合的緊密程度、區域內產業分工型態及與區域外國家出、進口結構及產業間相互競合程度不一而產生不同的影響。在上述六個區域經濟整合中，北美自由貿易區及南方共同市場對台灣產生貿易轉向的現象。本研究亦針對上述之結果與區域經濟整合實際進展現況進行交互分析。最後，本研究將就政策面及後續研究的方向提出建議，俾供參考。 / Globalization and regionalization have been the two main trends in international economic development in recent years. Already, many countries have signed Free Trade Agreements to achieve the goal of regional economic integration. This integration allows members of the region to virtually eliminate all tariff and non-tariff trade barriers and, as a result, increase trade volume between member countries. This phenomenon is called trade creation. On the other hand, trade volume between members of the region and non-member may decrease, a phenomenon called trade diversion. All of this will affect international trade flows, the allocation of international resources and change the pattern of the international industrial division. In order to learn how regional economic integration influences trade flows, this paper deals first with the definition and regulation under the GATT of regional trade agreements, the present situation and the development of regional economic integration. We also examine the current state of import and export trade between Taiwan and the main regional economies in the world. This paper reviews the relevant literature on the gravity model, a model that can effectively analyze trade flows between two countries, then proceeds to use this model with NAFTA, EU, AFTA, MERCOSUR, ANDEAN Community, and CER (Closer Economic Relationship between the Australia and New Zealand) as regional dummies. This allows us to test alterations in trade flows between members and other members as well as between members and non-members (especially Taiwan) in these six regional trade blocs for the 13 years between 1990 and 2003. This model also analyzes the main factors affecting trade flows. We find first that the main factors influencing trade flows between two countries are the GDP and per capita GDP of the importer and exporter as well as distance. Secondly, while regional economic integration clearly brings with it trade creation, the degree of trade diversion is affected by such factors as the degree of regional economic integration, the pattern of industrial division in the region, the structure of imports from and exports to non-member countries and the level of competition and cooperation in various sectors. The empirical evidence shows that NAFTA and Mercosur have resulted in trade diversion away from Taiwan. Based on our findings, we offer policy suggestions and suggestions for further research.

La construction européenne fut entre la conférence de La Haye en 1969 et la signature de l’Acte unique européen en 1986, une entreprise d’intégration des sociétés européennes principalement économique, notamment fondée sur la libre circulation des marchandises, des hommes mais aussi des services et des capitaux. Ce projet de marché unique transnational fut un défi inouï lancé aux Etats et aux partis politiques qui organisent l’expression politique au sein de chaque nation. Deux partis, profondément enracinés par leur identité socialiste et démocratique dans la vie de leur nation et également mus par l’idéal européen, le parti social-démocrate d’Allemagne (SPD) et le Parti socialiste français (PS), furent, par l’action de leurs dirigeants au pouvoir, étroitement associés à la réalisation du projet européen.Ces partis furent-ils des acteurs qui imprimèrent la marque du socialisme démocratique à la construction européenne ou l’accompagnèrent-ils sans en corriger les traits originaux ? Ont-ils façonné le modèle économique de l’intégration européenne ou s’est-il imposé à eux ? Partant, cette expérience européenne les conduisit-elle à préserver ou à modifier leur identité ? Notre recherche nous conduit ainsi à étudier la rencontre entre deux utopies, l’utopie européenne et l’utopie du socialisme démocratique et à mesurer l’extrême difficulté pour ces deux partis de créer un modèle qui fasse converger ces deux caractéristiques du PS et du SPD et leur permette de rester des forces politiques d’avenir, riches de propositions partagées à l’échelle européenne. / Between the conference of The Hague (1965) and the signing of the Single European Act (1986), the European Construction was foremost an economic endeavour aiming at integrating the European societies and based on the free movement of goods, people, services and money. The creation of the common market was an extraordinary challenge for the nation states and for the political parties which are responsible for the expression of the political life of their nation. Two parties, the French socialist party (PS) and the social-democratic party of Germany (SPD), both deeply rooted in the political life of their own nation, with a socialist and democratic identity, but also moved by European ideals, were greatly involved in the realisation of the European project, mainly through the action of their leaders when these were exercising their national responsibilities and ruling their nation.Thus the questioning: did these parties leave the mark of democratic socialism on the European construction or did they only accompany it without correcting the original features? Did they participate in the definition of the European economic model or not? And in turn, did the European construction lead them to preserve or to modify their identity?Our inquiry leads us to study how two utopian ideas, the path towards democratic socialism and the path towards European unity, interfere. The extreme difficulty for both parties to create a convergence between these two paths could prevent them from remaining political strengths with great future at national and European scale.

La réalisation du marché intérieur de l’énergie constitue le moyen de diminuer le coût de l’énergie pour les consommateurs tout en assurant d’autres objectifs tels que la sécurité d’approvisionnement. Toutefois, les marchés européens du gaz et de l’électricité connaissent de nombreuses défaillances identifiées par la Commission dans son rapport résultant d’une enquête sectorielle lancée en 2005. Les directives de libéralisation ne suffisant pas, elle prône une application renforcée du droit de la concurrence, en particulier du droit du contrôle des concentrations. L’objet de cette étude est dès lors d’analyser l’utilisation de ces règles dans le cadre du processus de libéralisation des marchés énergétiques en Europe.Après une explication de la vague de concentrations ayant eu lieu dans le secteur énergétique sous l’impact de la libéralisation et du contexte qui l’entoure, on s’intéresse à l’utilisation des règles du contrôle des concentrations. Cette étude tente de mettre en exergue l’utilisation orientée de ses règles. Les Etats membres tout d’abord tendent à favoriser les opérations de concentrations se produisant entre des entreprises nationales tout en posant des obstacles aux opérations impliquant l’entrée sur leurs territoires d’acteurs étrangers.La Commission quant à elle favorise les concentrations de nature transfrontalière afin d’aider à la réalisation du marché intérieur et au développement de l’aspect concurrentiel de ce marché. Pour ce faire, elle a recours à un outil particulier : les remèdes. De tels rapprochements entre entreprises favorisant le marché intérieur, il n’est pas dans l’intérêt de la Commission de les interdire. Les remèdes permettent d’éliminer les effets négatifs qui pourraient résulter d’une opération de concentration. Cette étude propose une analyse des différents remèdes ayant été acceptés par la Commission afin de résoudre un problème de concurrence. / The completion of the internal energy market is the way to reduce energy costs forconsumers while providing other objectives such as security of supply. However,European gas and electricity markets are experiencing many failures identified by theCommission in its report published in 2007. The Commission advocates a strongerapplication of competition law, in particular the rules of merger control because theliberalization directives was not enough. Therefore the purpose of this study istherefore to analyze the application of those rules in the process of liberalization ofenergy markets in Europe.After an explanation of the merger wave that occurred in the energy sector under theimpact of liberalization and the environment that surrounds it, we are interested in theapplication of the rules of merger control.In this scope we will see that the Commission encourages the concentration of crossbordernature to help build the internal market and to develop the competition. Torealize this objective, the Commission uses a particular tool: the remedies. Theremedies can eliminate the negative effects that could result from a merger. Thisstudy provides an analysis of the various remedies that have been accepted by theCommission to resolve the problems of competition.

La nouvelle stratégie d'intégration adoptée en 2000 par les pays Sud-Américains, après trois décennies d'instabilité économique et de crises récurrentes, est un jalon de l'histoire économique de la région. En effet, la volatilité du cycle économique de ces pays s'est réduite significativement à partir de cette date, atteignant son niveau le plus bas depuis 1950. L'analyse d'un tel phénomène est particulièrement intéressante en particulier lorsque l'on se place dans le contexte de turbulences et de crises des années 2000, à savoir, la crise financière mondiale (2008-2009) et, dans son sillage, la crise des dettes souveraines en zone euro. Dans cette thèse, l'objectif est d'étudier le projet d'intégration régionale d'Amérique du Sud, institutionnalisé en 2008 avec la création de l'Union des Nations Sud-Américaines Unasur, en tant que vecteur de stabilisation de ces économies. De ce fait, il s'agit de concentrer l'analyse sur les interactions entre les douze pays du continent Sud-Américain – Argentine, Bolivie, Brésil, Chili, Colombie, Équateur, Guyana, Paraguay, Pérou, Uruguay, Suriname et Venezuela – qui forment un groupe hétérogène autour d'un objectif commun l' "… intégration culturelle, sociale, économique et politique …" et la "… réduction des asymétries de la qualité de vie de ses citoyens … ". La thèse s'intéresse exclusivement aux aspects économiques d'un tel projet d'intégration régionale. À partir d'outils empiriques et théoriques, nous cherchons à évaluer le niveau de convergence et de vulnérabilité des économies concernées. Plus particulièrement une analyse des impacts des politiques d'intégration dans court terme et une étude de leurs performances macroéconomiques de long terme. La thèse se divise en quatre chapitres et s'appuie sur des modèles qui intègrent diverses sources de diffusion des chocs asymétriques. Le premier chapitre présente l'état de l'art de la théorie d'intégration économique régionale en soulignant le cas Sud-Américain. Le deuxième chapitre analyse, à l'aide de modèles vectoriels autorégressifs structurels et de mesures de corrélation, l'impact de chocs externes sur les secteurs réel, monétaire et budgétaire des pays membres de l'Unasur. L'analyse montre que : (i) même les pays les plus fermés (Argentine et Venezuela) et les plus industrialisées (Brésil) présentent une forte vulnérabilité aux perturbations internationales, (ii) cette vulnérabilité individuelle se traduit en une convergence de court terme des trajectoires des principales variables macroéconomiques des pays concernés. Dans le troisième chapitre, on cherche à mesurer le degré de convergence de long terme des niveaux de vie des citoyens Sud-Américains à l’aide de modèles empiriques vectoriels à correction d'erreur et de techniques de cointégration. Les résultats montrent l'existence de tendances stochastiques communes à long terme. Cela signifie que les pays sont engagés dans un processus d'évolution vers un objectif commun, autrement dit, que les conditions de vie des citoyens Sud-Américains ne divergent pas à long terme. En fin, le troisième chapitre vise à analyser l'impact de l'investissement dans la construction de réseaux régionaux de transport, de communication et d'énergie, sur la réduction de l'hétérogénéité structurelle des pays de l'Unasur (projet IIRSA). En effectuant un certain nombre d'expériences de politique dans un cadre théorique, cette analyse constate que : (i) une accroissement d'investissement public en infrastructure suscite une augmentation du commerce intra-intra-régional mais pas forcément une réduction de l'écart de production entre les pays, (ii) l'écart de production à long terme entre l'Argentine et le Brésil diminue, dans un scénario gagnant-gagnant, en termes de croissance économique, seulement si les gouvernements de ces deux pays coordonnent leur augmentation d'investissement en infrastructure, comme proposé par l'IIRSA. / Economic integration seems to be a new global trend. The past two decades have witnessed the formation of several economic unions in Asia (ASEAN+3 in 1997), Europe (Eurozone in 1999), Africa, and America (Union of South American Nations, Unasur in 2008). The South American case deserves special attention because, unlike the other blocs, the Unasur emerged as a political alliance and not as an economic one. Furthermore, Unasur is conceived as a strategy for improving the socioeconomic conditions of nations that have a common history of economic instability and external dependence. However, while common concerns and political willingness exist among group members, the question of whether that consensus is sufficient to ensure economic integration remains unanswered. For instance, economic integration as a strategy for macroeconomic stability has seemed to work well in Europe after the euro was launched in 1999 (Sapir, 2011), until the breakdown of the European sovereign debt crisis in recent years has revealed the inherent weaknesses of an economic union that lacks a political union (Fligstein et al., 2012, Issing, 2011). This development suggests that the Unasur project is likely to fail if the concerned economies do not converge economically. This is the reason why, this thesis assesses the Unasur project from an economic integration perspective, thus, complementing the huge body of political literature that has been developed on the issue (Briceño-Ruiz, 2014, Sanahuja, 2012). The first chapter describes the theory of economic integration' state of art focusing on South America. The second chapter examines the reactions of the Unasur economies to external shocks. By using a structural vector autoregression approach, it measures the impact of three external shocks (monetary, commercial, and financial) in the real, monetary, and fiscal economic sectors of Unasur economies and investigates co-movement paths. The results show (i) a non-negligible degree of synchronization across the studied economies, confirming their high external vulnerability, (ii) irrespective of size or integration degree, all Unasur members share mutual weaknesses, which they must fight to overcome. The third chapter evaluates the convergence in real GDP per-capita, as a suitable proxy measure, of the concerned economies for the period 1951-2011. By relying on cointegration techniques and applying Bernard and Durlauf's (1995) stochastic definitions of convergence and common trends, the presented evidence supports the existence of common long-run trends driving output in South America, meaning that the region is involved in a dynamic process of convergence in living standards. Finally, the fourth chapter studies the economic spillovers of the most advanced structural project of the group: the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA). A micro-founded two-country general equilibrium model is constructed to evaluate potential gains or losses (in terms of output convergence and trade integration) of raising publicly provided transportation infrastructure in a coordinated and uncoordinated manner. The model is solved using data from Argentina and Brazil. Results show that: (i) rising public investment in infrastructure boost commercial integration but not necessarily generates output converge, (ii) the only way for the Argentina and Brazil to achieve output convergence is to coordinate their increments on public infrastructure as proposed by the IIRSA.

No description available.