ABSTRACT
Introduction 1 Regional (economic and/or political) integration has been one of the major developments in international relations since 1990. 2 Most industrialized and developing countries are members of regional organizations or regional integration agreements. By 2000 about onethird of global trade took place within regional organizations, of which the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are two prominent examples (OECD 2002a). 3 Regional organizations vary hugely: they have in common the objective of reducing barriers to trade between member countries, but some go further in their political and economic functions and objectives. Whether regional integration must be understood as a challenge to globalization or as an expression of globalization will be discussed at the end of this chapter, when evaluating the impact of the EU and NAFTA on employment regulation and employment relations.
