This title was first published in 2003. After briefly reviewing the basic theoretical stances animating the rest of the proceedings, Laursen (international politics, U. of Southern Denmark) presents 11 contributions that comparatively review processes of regional integration around the world.

Contents: Part 1: Introduction: Theoretical perspectives on comparative regional integration, Finn Laursen. Part 2: Governmentalist Perspectives: Rebuilding the Central American bloc in the 1990s: an intergovernmentalist approach to integration, Rafael SÃf¡nchez; Presidentialism and Mercosur: a hidden cause for a successful experience, Andrés Malamud; A supply-side theory of international economic institutions for the Mercosur, José RaÃfºl Perales. Part 3: Power Perspectives: Power and regionalism: explaining regional cooperation in the Persian Gulf, Scott Cooper and Brock Taylor; Two funerals and a wedding? The ups and downs of regionalism in East Asia and Asia Pacific after the Asian Crisis, Douglas Webber. Part 4: Constructivist Perspectives: Rethinking the Mediterranean: reality and re-presentation in the creation of a 'Region', Michelle Pace; Two sides of the same coin: mutual perceptions and security community in the case of Argentina and Brazil, Andrea Oelsner; Integration in times of instability: exchange rate and monetary cooperation in Mercosur and the EU, Susana BorrÃf¡s and Michael Kluth. Part 5: Neofunctionalist and Historical Institutionalist Perspectives: The ECOWAS: from regional economic organization to regional peacekeeper, Peter M. Dennis and M. Leann Brown; Path dependence and external shocks: the dynamics of the EU enlargement eastwards, Svetlozar A. Andreev. Part 6: Concluding Comments: The vertical and horizontal dimensions of regional integration: a concluding note, Walter Mattli; International regimes or would-be polities? Some concluding questions and remarks, Finn Laursen