Preconditions of regional economic cooperation: the ASEAN case

Abstract

Three main features are discernible in the present world economic and political systems: first, the bifurcation of countries into communist and non-communist states; secondly, the dichotomy between developed and underdeɣeloped economies; and, thirdly, the This, of course, is a simplified tendency towards regionalism. view of the world. In reality, countries cannot be so clearly demarcated. The emergence of regionalism constitutes one of the most distinguishable characteristics of international political and It is one of historical economic relations in the present century. This movement towards regionalism is not a historical accident. evolution. During the last two hundred years, the world economy experienced three major movements in regionalism. The first wave witnessed the internal integration of new nation-states like Great Britain, France and the American colonies. In fact, many newly independent underdeveloped countries are still in the throes of this stage. The second wave was the free trade movement which reached its peak by the end of the 1870's. The third wave began after the Second World War and is still in progress. This last movement has realignment of political and economic boundaries. vertical division of production in which underdeveloped countries acted as suppliers of raw materials and metropolitan countries as exporters of manufactures is to be replaced by the process of horizontal integration. It is now a merging of countries with similar level of development, that is, developing with their own kind, and developed with theirs.