"Integration from Below: Transnational Regionalism in Europe and North America"

The research on regionalism has considered regions consisting of two or more states, such as Western Europe, North America, or Southeast Asia, or regions within the borders of a single state. What is missing is consideration of regional activity across national borders by subnational units of two or more states. In this paper, the term transnational regionalism is used to refer to such activity. The type of activity described by transnational regionalism is cooperative, whether it be in energy resource management, development of transportation infrastructure, or any of several other areas. Furthermore, these activities may occur as a result of national-level cooperation or integration agreements, or as a result of the perceived common interests of subnational actors. The purpose of this paper is to explore how this latter type of transnational regionalism may lead to the integration of the states of which the subnational units are a part in the absence of national level agreements. This is described as "integration from below." Conversely, "integration from above" results from national-level agreements. The data are such that no particular hypothesis can be evaluated at this time. However, after exploring what is available, several questions and hypotheses for future research are suggested. The major theoretical works on integration are briefly reviewed in order to place this study in the appropriate context. Cases of transnational regionalism in Europe and North America are then described. Finally, the cases will be compared and preliminary conclusions will be drawn regarding the influence of transnationalism regionalism on integration