Brief History of Regional Integration

Brief History of Regional Integration 

Regional integration agreements (RIAs), either formed for economic reasons or for non
economic reasons, have been on the stage of international trade for hundred of years. To be
able to study the brief history of these agreements, a good starting point would be the
establishment of the GATT system, because with the  introduction of the GATT system
RIAs gained their legal legitimacy. After giving some remarks on the history of regional
integration prior to the GATT system, the next section will study the key concepts of the
GATT system, together with the underlying rationale for the introduction of the GATT
Article XXIV, which is the first legal clause governing RIAs. On the other hand, in the
final section, history of regional integration that spans from the initiation of GATT to the
present day will be studied.

                                                
1
 Due to political considerations, the number of countries tends to change according to the various sources.
For example, the US accepts 194 countries, the inclusion of countries like Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, etc.,
brings this number to 200 (and even more).