A systemic perspective on regional integration after the end of the Cold War

This paper explains the systemic pressures on states in Europe and Southeast Asia to broaden their alliances after the end of the Cold War, and how expansion impacts on regional integration. Inter-state cooperation is still very much the basis of regional integration. In Europe, states will scuttle attempts at deepening integration if this threatens their security, as the recent political impasse in the European Union reveals. In Southeast Asia, by contrast, the threat to the security of states arises from their failure to deepen economic integration in order to survive an anarchic world financial system. This failure is due to entrenched internal constraints that prevents closer inter-state cooperation and the pooling of sovereignty. Thus, while attempts to move into the area of political union will be resisted by states eager to maintain their sovereignty, the inability to advance into the area of monetary union can only lead to demise of states