Arab Regional Integration | The Politics and Economics of a Fragmented Nation

This book is a multidisciplinary analysis of Arab regional integration using the neo-functionalist and transactionalist approaches to integration. Neo-functionalism analyses the process of integration in the Arab World by studying the role of regional institutions including the League of Arab States and three Arab joint ventures. The transactionalist approach examines the impact of regional trade on political and economic integration in the Arab Mashreq. This book concludes that at the political level, regional institutions did not promote Arab integration since they lacked aspects of supranationality and collective decision-making processes. Also, they did not affect the Arab elite’s attitudes and could not initiate a viable process of integration that would spill over from one sector to another. At the economic level, the low level of regional trade in the Arab Mashreq did not prevent the occurrence of many attempts at Arab integration. Moreover, the Arab joint ventures were more politically inspired than commercially. Although they were more resilient to economic and political instability in the Arab World, their role in promoting regional integration was limited.