ABSTRACT
The logic behind attempts to deal with state problems of development by grouping national economies together in a regional association seems unexceptional. As the case of the European Union (EU) has demonstrated, this approach applies equally to developed and to developing countries. In some, but not all, cases these regional groupings for economic cooperation are expressed in terms of trade blocs, to be considered later in this chapter. In some cases, too, regional groupings have arisen out of a perceived need for political cooperation or union, to confirm post-colonial independence from a former metropolitan power, for river basin development or to enable groups of states to have more weight in international affairs than if they acted alone.
