"Explaining Opposition to Regional Integration in North America and Europe"

Nelsen, Brent F. and Fraser, Cleveland R. (1995) "Explaining Opposition to Regional Integration in North America and Europe". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction] In this study we seek to explain why opposition to regional integration varies in strength over time, within and between countries. To accomplish this goal we must 1) gain an overview of North American and European opposition to integration, and 2) explore the relationship between the strength of opposition and a set of potential explanatory variables. We begin by identifying and measuring our dependent variable, opposition to regional integration. Measuring opposition to regional integration requires solutions to several difficult problems. The first problem is how to define "regional integration." We adopt a broad definition: regional integration is the process by which nation-states in a given geographic region proceed, by mutual agreement, to reduce the significance of the legal borders that separate them. At its most basic level, integration signifies an increased freedom to move goods and services, capital, and people across national frontiers. At a higher level, it means the coordination of government decisions throughout the region so as to make the policies of one government indistinguishable from the policies of another in a particular issue area. At its highest level, regional integration denotes rendering borders completely insignificant. At this level, member states would no longer exist in any practical sense, but no assumptions are made of how a borderless region would be governed.

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