Instances of similar trajectories are represented most obviously by the European Union which presents the most advanced form of de jure regionalism and de-facto regionalisation. The denial of globalisation is typical of realist theory and rests on considerations about the historical recurrence of periods of increased international and cross-border interactions. Proponents of the theory would argue that in reality globalisation hardly exists, and even where it is possible to identify new trends in the international political economy, those may be easily explained by making reference to the nation state and the national dimension. The analysis then proceeds by ‘ideal types’: the ideal type of the ‘global economy’ is compared to that of a world economy without globalisation. The first measure of an integrated global economy is the stock of foreign owned productive capital. Concluding, realists claim that evidence proves the myth of a ‘globalised economy’.