Are Small and Medium States Superior to Large? The Role a State’s Size Plays in Regional Integration

This study examines the relationship between a state’s size and regional integration. Specifically, this study empirically focuses on whether a particular size of state plays a disproportionate role in establishing regional institutions. This paper undertakes research in an attempt to settle a dispute that has arisen within the literature. Expressly, whether it is small, medium, or large states that encourage regional integration and furthermore whether the former two in fact resist the latter’s attempts to do so. In an effort to resolve this debate, the paper explores critical time periods in the establishment of the European Union and MERCOSUR. This paper draws two conclusions from the empirical data presented. First, of the independent variables analyzed, medium states are more likely to play a disproportionate role in the initial establishment of regional institutions. Second, small states are more likely to play a disproportionate role in the subsequent advancement of these same institutions