Part I. Introduction Theoretical perspectives on comparative regional integration (Finn Laursen) Part II. Governmentalist Perspectives Rebuilding the Central American bloc in the 1990s: an intergovernmentalist approach to integration (Rafael Sánchez) Presidentialism and Mercosur: a hidden cause for a successful experience (Andrés Malamud) A supply-side theory of international economic institutions for the Mercosur (José Raúl Perales) Part III. 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 IV. 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 Borrás and Michael Kluth) Part V. 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 VI. 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) Index