"This book examines thirteen regions in Latin America, Asia and Africa, comparing their internal integration and their relations with the rest of the world to those of countries not in regions and to the European Union, the most fully integrated region. The results do not suggest a continuum from less to more integrated but, rather, a range of possible forms with different types of internal linkage and different expectations of permanence.". "All enduring regions go beyond economics and beyond simply removing restrictions on trade: they have political and security goals as well as economic objectives, and they create new institutions and new regulatory structures which evolve over time."--BOOK JACKET.