ABSTRACT
In a changing world, where old and new developments challenge traditional decision
making and (nation) states find it increasingly difficult to govern political and
economic processes that are ever more cross-boundary in nature, regional govern-
ance has become a powerful tool to address such growing complexity. As a meso-level
between the state and the international system, regional organisations have been
purposely created to deal with phenomena and processes transcending the borders
of national communities. Nowadays, there is a virtually endless list of regional
organisations operating in various sectors, entrusted with varying degrees of power
and decision-making authority. Although most of them perform only specific func-
tions (e.g. natural resources management, conflict prevention, legal advice, customs
control, policing, etc.), there has been an increase in ‘general purpose’ regional
organisations, of which the European Union (EU) is the most well known and
developed. Some of them, such as the Common Market of the South (Mercosur),
have evolved out of specific trade agreements (e.g. free trade areas), while others, such
as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the African Union
(AU) have been created with a view to guaranteeing security and development. As
famously remarked by Peter Katzenstein, the contemporary international arena may
very well develop into a ‘world of regions’, where openness and cooperation are
reinforced by growth in cross-border exchanges and interstate relations.1
