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Apart from the formation of megaregional blocs and the sheer rise in numbers resulting in “disorganization,” the regional integration projects along the South–South axis are becoming the focal point of “alternative economic integration” vis-à-vis the well-advanced integration system in the developed world. This concerns the low degree of coordination among the regional development institutions, regional financing arrangements and the trade policies of the largest integration arrangements.Īs the centrality of global institutions is weakened and the nation states are reasserting their powers, the in-between layer of global governance (between global institutions and nation states), namely regional integration arrangements, is undergoing massive changes. There is accordingly a lack of connectivity between the main regional integration blocs and the global organizations such as the WTO, the latter proving to be largely powerless in the face of the expansion in the number of regional arrangements and their growing potency accumulated in part at the expense of global institutions.Īside from this low degree of vertical connectivity with global institutions, there is also a lack of horizontal coordination among the regional economic blocs, which hampers the implementation of regional/continental integration projects. Regionalism is a force that has largely eluded regulation from the multilateral international organizations while at the same time taking on ever greater authority in driving economic integration. This undermines the efficiency of the WTO, but can also open up new opportunities. The mounting protectionism and the exacerbation in trade tensions also contribute to the attractiveness of bilateral and regional alliances as an alternative to multilateralism in global organizations. These correspond to 459 notifications from WTO members, counting goods, services and accessions separately.
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According to the WTO, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have become increasingly prevalent since the early 1990s and as of, 287 RTAs were in force. The leading economies increasingly often opt for establishing regional trade blocs that pursue the policy of exclusive trade liberalization for a select group of their members, which reduces the interest of the countries in multilateral liberalization. The WTO crisis in the past few decades has been associated with the active advance of regionalism.