ABSTRACT
Integration implies that states agree to abide by a set of international rules that govern economic transactions. The theory of group hegemony articulates the international political factors that help contribute to the economic gap in the post-World War II era. Group hegemony helps explain how some of the rales or practices governing international economic transactions help maintain the gap. The dependency theory offers an explanatory approach to comparative economic growth and income inequality. The theory of group hegemony holds that the power structure remains constant even though the majority of countries benefit from participating in the liberal economic order. In the liberal economic order, states intervene to implement nondiscriminatory and predictable policies under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization system. The theory of group hegemony argues that the rules governing international economic transactions are biased in favor of the core and a few targeted countries.
