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Global integration. Principles, types and forms of integration. The main modern integration groupings of developed countries

The phenomena of integration can be traced in global And regional levels.

At the global level, integration manifests itself:

1. in the creation of international legal relations between regional integration associations;
2. in the creation, functioning and development of transnational markets for goods and services (within the WTO system and outside this system).

As method international legal regulation of integration processes is not only coordination, inherent in MP, but also subordinate method (elements of supranational regulation in the EU).

However, integration takes on the most comprehensive and manageable character at the regional level: in Europe, North and South America, Asia, the Pacific region, the Middle East, and Africa.

56. An integration association is an economic space with a special (preferential) legal regime. From the point of view of the MEP, in connection with integration processes, the problem of the relationship between this “internal integration” regime and the PNB arises. Similar questions arose in connection with the creation of the EEC, EFTA, LAST.

If we assume that due to the PNB third states can demand “intra-integration” benefits, this will mean the impossibility of integration, a ban on integration.

This problem was considered by the UN International Law Commission in the preparation of the “draft articles on most favored nation clauses”, which could become an international convention.

It should be noted that Art. XXIV of the GATT text provides for “customs unions” and “free trade areas” as exceptions from the scope of the NSP. However, in practice, none of the agreements on a customs union or a free trade area fully met the requirements of the GATT, and yet all of these associations were recognized as having the right to be exempt from obligations arising from the NSP.

Taking this into account, it can be argued that the benefits provided by states to each other within the framework integration associations, do not fall within the scope of the NSP either on the basis of an international treaty (GATT, bilateral trade agreements providing for such exceptions) or on the basis of established international legal custom.

In connection with the establishment of international legal relations between integration associations, new features are being introduced into the practice of applying the NSP: there is a kind of “movement” of the application of this principle from the interstate level to the level of “integration association - integration association.”

For example, in 1983, an Agreement on Economic Cooperation was concluded between the EEC and the Andean Pact, providing (Article 4) for the mutual provision of MFN.

A similar provision was contained in the agreement between the EEC and the ASEAN member countries, as well as in the draft framework agreement between the EEC and CMEA.

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economic integration humanity durkheim

Global integration in concepts, terms, categories

Angelina E.A.

One of the pressing problems of modern world development is the problem of the integrated existence of humanity. Global integration is a condition for its survival, especially within the framework of developing technogenesis, clearly expressed in the information and computer revolution. In this regard, the goal of our research is to more fully identify the initial basic concepts, terms and categories that reflect and define the very essence of the global integration process.

The purpose of this work is to provide, if possible, the most significant domestic and foreign primary sources in which the volume, content, types and functionality of the integration phenomenon are most fully presented.

Despite the fact that the modern world has spent almost the entire 20th century. was divided into two world systems, capitalist and socialist, however, the evidence of integration processes was not denied by any of the world systems. While working on primary sources, we became acquainted with a number of names, both domestic and foreign philosophers, sociologists, economists, political scientists, cultural experts, etc. In particular, the most prominent researchers of this issue were: I. Savelyeva, J. Shchepansky, V. Abrosimov, O. Maltseva, E. Semenov, A. Kovalev, JI. Sedov. In the 50s XX century in the USSR the works of T. Parsons and N. Smelser were studied. In the 60s The works of T. Parsons, A. Egcioni, P. Lazarsfeld, M. Rosenberg were studied. In the 70s and 90s. the works of L. Werner, J. Gruzek, H. Litton, M. Feldstrain, F. Heffernan, K. Barbadt, D. Hale and others were actively studied. Domestic and foreign academic scientific institutions conducted serious research, held international conferences on this issue, reflecting the main vision of the phenomenon of integration in encyclopedic publications. In accordance with our task of presenting the most complete volume and content of the phenomenon of integration, we present them in the original, taken, as expected, in “quotes”, without throwing out a single significant word.

The “Concise Philosophical Encyclopedia” indicates that “integration (from the Latin integer is complete, whole, unbroken) a process or action that results in integrity; unification, connection, restoration of unity; in Spencer's philosophy it means the transformation of a dispersed, imperceptible state into a concentrated, visible state, associated with a slowdown of internal movement, while disintegration means the transformation of a concentrated into a state of atomization, associated with an acceleration of movement. Spencer, says this encyclopedia, repeatedly uses the word "integration" as equivalent to aggregation. Development solar system, planet, organism, nation, according to Spencer, consists of alternating integration and disintegration. In the psychology of E. Jaensch, integration means the spread of individual spiritual traits to the entire totality of spiritual life. In P Smenda’s teaching on the state, integration is understood as the constant self-renewal of the state through the mutual penetration of all types of activities aimed at it.

Please note that the “Concise Philosophical Encyclopedia” presents the concept of integration against the background of another disintegration. And the complete “Philosophical Encyclopedia” examines these concepts side by side. Here we read: “Integration and disintegration are social (from the Latin integer whole and the French des... prefix meaning negation, destruction) concepts that in bourgeois sociology denote the processes of combining social phenomena into a single whole and the disintegration of the whole into elements. Integration harmonization and unification of various social groups (class integration), assimilation of various cultural elements into a single homogeneous culture (cultural integration), reconciliation and coincidence of different moral norms (moral integration), etc. Disintegration is the process of decomposition and disintegration of society into warring groups and groupings, groups into individuals pursuing personal rather than social goals, etc. The state of integration and disintegration and the mutual transitions of these states are, according to bourgeois sociology, the main points of the process social development» .

The Dictionary of Foreign Words says that “integral (lat.) inextricably linked, whole, united; integral calculus is a part of higher mathematics (infinitesimal calculus), which deals with the study of the properties and methods of calculating integrals and their applications; integral equations are equations that relate an unknown function to known ones using integrals; integral cooperation is a mixed-type cooperative system that unites all types of cooperative activities: consumer, fishing, agricultural, hunting, etc.” .

The “Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary” writes: “integration of languages, a process inverse to the differentiation of languages. With the integration of languages, language groups that previously used different languages (dialects) begin to use one language.”

The same dictionary also notes: “Integration (lat. integration restoration, replenishment, from integer whole), 1) a concept meaning the state of connectedness of individual differentiated parts and functions of a system, an organism into a whole, as well as the process leading to such a state; 2) the process of convergence and connection of sciences, occurring along with the processes of their differentiation.”

Further, a number of dictionaries indicate areas of integration. Thus, “Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary”, “Concise Political Science Dictionary”, etc. write about economic integration. “Modern Western Sociology. Dictionary" contains articles about "Social Integration", as well as concepts reflecting this social phenomenon.

“Economic integration,” we read in the “Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary,” is a form of internationalization of economic life that arose after World War II, an objective process of intertwining national economies and pursuing a coordinated interstate economic policy. Capitalist integration is the creation of interstate monopolistic associations (EEC, EACT, etc.) of closed economic blocs as new forms of struggle for the economic division and redivision of the world. It is characterized by acute contradictions between and within regional economic groupings. Socialist integration is a systematically regulated process of deepening the international socialist division of labor, developing industrial and scientific-technical cooperation, mutually beneficial trade, economic and monetary and financial relations of socialist countries. Aimed at the formation of a modern, highly efficient structure of national economies, gradual convergence and equalization of the levels of their economic development.

The Soviet researcher I. Savelyeva in the “Philosophical Encyclopedia”, based on a number of foreign sources, writes the following: “economic integration (from the Latin integratio - replenishment) is the rapprochement and interweaving of the national economies of a number of states, occurring, as a rule, on the basis of their regional proximity, due to their mutual interests and aimed at creating a single economic organism. It manifests itself in the creation of various interstate economic associations, regional and subregional groupings based on the principles of common markets, free trade zones, customs and currency unions, and is ensured by the implementation of a coordinated interstate economic policy. Over the past two decades, integration associations have become an integral element of relations within the world economy. Based on the nature and depth of integration processes, the following main types of integration associations can be distinguished: 1) free trade zone, when participating countries limit themselves to the abolition of customs barriers in mutual trade; 2) a customs union, when the free movement of goods and services within the group complements the single customs tariff in relation to third countries; 3) a common market, when barriers between countries are eliminated not only in mutual trade, but also for the movement of labor and capital; 4) an economic union, which also presupposes the implementation by participating states of a common economic policy and the creation of a system of interstate regulation of the socio-economic process. In practice, the boundaries between different types of integration are quite arbitrary. Economic integration has reached its greatest maturity in the group of developed countries with market economies. First of all, mention should be made of Europe, where the European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1957. Within the framework of the European Union, which emerged on the basis of the EEC, integration is carried out in a wide range of areas, both economic and political. This is facilitated by the activities of pan-European financial economic institutions, directions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Maastricht Agreements of 1991, which envisaged deepening the coordination of macroeconomic policies and the introduction of a common European currency, marked a new milestone in European economic integration. Economic integration processes are no less intense in the Asia-Pacific region. Such influential organizations as the Intergovernmental Conference on Asia-Pacific Cooperation (AREC), the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PREC), the Asia-Pacific Economic Council (APEC), etc. have already been created here. The formation process has begun North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), which includes the USA, Canada and Mexico. It should be noted that the same states can participate in different associations. At the moment, there are several dozen economic integration associations in the world, many of which are still rather amorphous formations. This applies to regional associations developing countries. Region and integration in the “third world” differs significantly from similar processes in developed countries. There is no such fundamental factor as the constantly deepening formation of intercountry economic ties both at the level of firms and enterprises, and national economic organisms. the main objective Such integration is to overcome the low level of development of the productive forces and collective protectionism. While the integration of developed countries, which has become a sign of the era, is based not on protective mechanisms, but on the high competitiveness of the economies of the leading countries, the space closed from external influence only contributes to the alienation of the “third world” countries from economic development. The advantages in this situation go to the most developed participants in regional unions. Thus, different degrees of interest of the participating countries are a characteristic feature of integration in the Third World. Economic associations of this kind are the Andean group. Latin American Integration Association. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa, Economic Community of Nations West Africa etc. Third World countries are generally more inclined to focus their economic ties on developed countries than on their own kind. At the same time, in the “third world” itself there is a layer of relatively prosperous countries that are successfully integrating into the economic system of world leaders. On the basis of such interactions, stably functioning economic associations are formed. These include the Association of States South-East Asia(ASEAN), Asian Development Bank (ADB), etc. There are also groups that gravitate towards certain regional “centers of gravity” - the South China Economic Zone, the “Golden Triangle of Growth”. Economic zone of the basin countries Sea of Japan. Indo-China Economic Zone, etc. Economic integration of the countries of the socialist camp on a political-ideological basis, an example of which was the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), existed as long as its basis, the USSR, remained. Economic integration is a form of regionalization and at the same time internationalization of the world economy.” In particular, the author of the article relies on a number of domestic and foreign studies as primary sources.

In another academic publication we read: “Social integration (from the Latin integratio replenishment) is a set of processes on the basis of which heterogeneous interacting elements merge into a social community, whole, system, as well as forms of maintaining by social groups a certain stability and balance of societies and relationships; the ability of a social system or its parts to resist destructive factors, to self-preserve in the face of internal and external stresses, difficulties, and contradictions. The same concept denotes a special problem area of sociology that studies how the various elements of society are held together, that is, how they are integrated. Any definitions of social integration are not universal, since they are usually a repetition of formulations of the necessary conditions for the existence and functioning of a sociocultural system in general.

Thus, all the complexities and contradictions of sociological analysis are transferred to the study of social integration “ large systems", which requires taking into account many different elements functioning in society. Social integration as a problem of the general theory of sociocultural systems, which studies the conditions and indicators of cohesion that is minimally necessary for the existence and activity of any social group, has occupied an important place in Western sociology since the 50s. XX century The meaning of social integration is each time clarified in the context of other sociological concepts that serve similar tasks: social connection, order, solidarity, etc. If the general concept of social connection covers all existing social relations, including conflicts between people social roles and the norms of societies, order, then social integration reflects the moment of consent, a dynamic state of coordination, a certain harmony of relationships and processes in a social group of any scale. In this case, social integration can also act as a characteristic of the measure of coincidence of goals, interests, and beliefs within different social groups, i.e., as social cohesion. Forced social integration is also possible by subordinating personal interests to the interests of the group or goals set from outside. At the same time, social integration is not identical to unification; it does not extinguish social diversity, which is a factor in the viability of the social system.”

Another domestic researcher of the phenomenon of integration, A. Kovalev, also points out that “social integration (from the Latin integratio replenishment) is a concept that characterizes: a set of processes through which heterogeneous interacting elements are linked into a social community, whole, system; forms of maintaining by social groups a certain stability and balance of social relations; the ability of a social system or its parts to resist destructive factors, to self-preserve in the face of internal and external stresses, difficulties, and contradictions. Social integration as a problem of the general theory of sociocultural systems, exploring the conditions and indicators of cohesion, the minimum necessary for the existence and activity of any social group, has occupied an important place in Western sociology since the 50s. XX century (especially after the works of T. Parsons). The meaning of social integration is each time clarified in the context of other sociological concepts that serve similar tasks: social connection, order, system, solidarity, etc. If the general concept of social connection covers all existing social relations, including conflicts of people with roles and norms public order(anomie, alienation, etc.), then social integration reflects the moment of consent, a dynamic state of coordination, a certain harmony of relationships and processes in a social group of any scale. Social integration is considered as a process closely related to other processes such as socialization, acculturation, assimilation, etc., and as a certain result of these processes. Any social integration (as well as its opposite - disintegration) is relative and not complete, but its degree is considered a necessary condition for the functioning of the social system. However, attempts to determine the main signs of achieving the required level of social integration usually lead to repetition of formulations of the necessary conditions for the existence and functioning of the sociocultural system in general. Ego, of course, transfers all the complexities and contradictions of the sociological analysis of “large systems” into the study of social integration. Any definitions of social integration are not universal; they take into account very few of the elements functioning in society. Typologies of social integration depend on the ways of dividing the sociocultural system and on the analysis of the relationships between its elements. Following the division of the social system into cultural and social subsystems accepted by American sociology, there are, for example, four classes of social integration: (1) cultural - expressing consistency between cultural standards, norms and patterns of behavior, internal coherence of individual subsystems of symbols; (2) normative - talking about coordination between cultural standards (norms) and people’s behavior, i.e. a state in which the basic norms of the cultural subsystem are “institutionalized” in the elements that make up the social subsystem, in particular in the actions of individuals; (3) communicative - based on the exchange of cultural meanings, information and showing the extent to which they cover the entire society or group; (4) functional - based on the interdependence and exchange of services between people arising from the social division of labor. Each type of social integration has its own subtypes. Systematic approaches to social integration are associated with a long sociological tradition. Thus, Durkheim’s “mechanical” and “organic” solidarity are, in fact, two polar types of social integration. The description of organic solidarity connecting culturally heterogeneous and interdependent individuals and similar groups has almost completely passed into the modern interpretation of functional integration. Mechanical solidarity (implying an adequate display of cultural patterns " collective consciousness» individual members of society, just as molecules solid retain its basic properties) is, according to the typology given above, a combination of cultural and normative integration of social. Systematic approaches synthesize both leading lines in the history of sociology of understanding the nature of social connection in general to social integration in particular: socio-psychological, emphasizing the importance of a sense of solidarity, connection with others, identification with the “We-group” opposed to the “They-group”, etc. , and objectivist, which brings to the fore the material and functional aspects of human communication, a set of societies and relationships that spontaneously develop in the process of collective labor activity, independent of internal mental states connected individuals. A generally accepted and integral concept of social integration has not yet been created in Western sociology.”

In the “Russian Sociological Encyclopedia” L.A. Sedov writes: “integration of the social concept (from the Latin integratio replenishment, restoration; integer - whole) - various theoretical constructs in sociology, using the concept of integration related to systems theory, which means the state of connectedness of individual differentiated parts into a whole and the process leading to this condition. This concept came to social sciences from mathematics, physics and biology. The concept of “social integration” implies the presence of an orderly, conflict-free relationship between social actors (individuals, organizations, states, etc.). The concept of “social system integration” has a somewhat different meaning, which means an orderly and conflict-free relationship between parts of the social system, that is, between institutions and normative standards. Views on the degree and mechanism of integration of social systems have undergone a complex evolution. Utilitarian philosophers (T. Hobbes, J. Locke, etc.) were characterized by the idea of society as an aggregate of autonomous units acting on the basis of arbitrary selfish interests. E. Durkheim, M. Weber, V. Pareto established the existence of integration of a social system on the basis of values and norms common to all its members. Representatives of functionalist anthropology (Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown, Kluckhohn) brought the idea of social integration to the idea of complete integration of society. Parsons introduced the concepts of normative and value integration of the social into his four-functional paradigm for considering social systems, showing that the function of social integration is ensured by the activity of specialized subsystems. According to Parsons, the problems of integration socially increase as systems of action become differentiated and more complex. Accordingly, to ensure stability and further development of the system, it is necessary to develop mechanisms for social integration. IN modern society integration problems are solved using mechanisms such as a universalist legal system, voluntary associations, expanding the rights and privileges of community members, and increasing the level of generalization of symbolic intermediaries. Theorists of non-functionalist movements (Wendix, Gouldner) often criticize functionalists for exaggerating the possible degree of integration of a social system, arguing that an empirically high level of integration is unattainable and practically harmful, since it deprives the social system of mobility and flexibility. Problems of social integration occupy a large place in the works of organization theorists. In particular, A. Etzioni shows that organizations such as prisons, army units, etc. are not social systems, since they are integrated on the basis of coercion. Actually, normative connections in them are formed between prisoners, ordinary military personnel, etc., forming their own “social subsystems”. L. Sedov also defines the basic concepts of integration using Western literary sources.

The “Concise Dictionary of Political Science” also says: “socialist economic integration is a form of internationalization of the economic life of socialist countries, expressed in their steadily expanding economic cooperation, rapprochement and interweaving of national economies, which serve as an important condition for the development of each of them. Socialist economic integration makes it possible to unite and systematically coordinate the efforts of socialist countries in order to solve the most important socio-economic problems, and is designed to combine on an international scale the advantages of the socialist economic system with the achievements of scientific and technological progress in the interests of intensifying the economy of each CMEA member country and the commonwealth as a whole. It makes it possible to accelerate the processes of specialization, cooperation and concentration of production, and to effectively meet the needs of socialist countries for raw materials, fuel, machinery and equipment.

The main goals, objectives, principles and mechanism for the implementation of socialist economic integration are defined in the Comprehensive Program for further deepening and improving cooperation and development of socialist economic integration of the CMEA member countries, adopted by them in 1971 and designed for phased implementation over 15-20 years.

The main directions of socialist economic integration are: cooperation in the field of planning activities of the participating countries, specialization and cooperation of production and the creation of international economic organizations (Intermetal, Interenergo, etc.), cooperation in solving fuel and energy problems (joint development of energy and raw materials resources, construction of transcontinental gas pipelines, nuclear power plants, formation of a unified energy system "World"), cooperation in the field of science and technology, coordination of monetary, financial and foreign trade activities, etc.

The Economic Conference of the CMEA member countries at the highest level (1984) marked a qualitative new stage in deepening socialist economic integration. It identified long-term directions for the development of socialist economic integration, made a major step in coordinating economic policies, expanding direct cooperative ties between enterprises, and creating joint associations and international organizations. The core of all work was consistent implementation Comprehensive program scientific and technological progress of the CMEA member countries until 2000, the transition from predominantly trade relations to deeper specialization and cooperation in production. The XXVII Congress of the CPSU and congresses of other fraternal parties confirmed the course towards further deepening socialist economic integration as a material basis for the unity of socialist countries. The task has been set to ensure a more complete use of the possibilities of socialist economic integration in intensifying the socio-economic development of the countries of the socialist community in order to improve the well-being of peoples and strengthen their security.

At a working meeting of the leaders of the fraternal parties of the CMEA member countries (1986), a course was outlined for a radical renewal of the mechanism of cooperation and the transfer of socialist economic integration to a new technological model of development. In accordance with these agreements, the Council bodies outlined measures for the gradual restructuring of the integration mechanism, including ways to introduce convertibility of the transferable ruble into freely convertible currencies, the gradual creation of conditions for the free movement of goods, services and other factors of production between the CMEA countries and for the creation in the future of a unified market".

In conclusion, we can say that, firstly, in the future, most of the theoretical developments of domestic and foreign authors were confirmed; secondly, with the collapse of the USSR, with the rapid development of information and computer technologies and a number of other factors, world integration has become a global phenomenon, sharpening old concepts and categories and giving rise to new ones; thirdly, ultimately, global integration has become a natural condition for the existence of modern humanity.

WITHlist of sources used

1. Brief philosophical encyclopedia. M.: Publishing group "Progress" "Encyclopedia", 1994. 576 p.

2. Philosophical encyclopedia. In 5 vols. T.1 M.: Publishing house Soviet Encyclopedia, 1960. 504 p.

3. Dictionary of foreign words. M.; Bustard, 2008. 817 p.

4. Soviet encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1982. 160 p.

5. Modern Western sociological dictionary / Comp. Yu.N. Davydov, M.S. Kovaleva, A.F. Filippov. M.: Politizdat, 1990. - 432 p.

6. Russian Sociological Encyclopedia / Ed. ed. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G.V. Osipova. M.: NORM; INFRA-M, 1998. 481 p.

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Reasons and forms of development of international economic integration.

If the 17th - first half of the 20th centuries. became the era of the formation of independent national states, then in the second half of the 20th century. the reverse process began. This new trend At first (since the 1950s) it developed only in Europe, but then (since the 1960s) it spread to other regions. Many countries are voluntarily abandoning complete national sovereignty and form integration associations with other states. The main reason for this process is the desire to increase the economic efficiency of production, and integration itself is primarily of an economic nature.

The rapid growth of economic integration blocs reflects the development of the international division of labor and international production cooperation.

International division of labor- this is a system of organizing international production in which countries, instead of independently providing themselves with all the necessary goods, specialize in the production of only some goods, acquiring the missing ones through trade. The simplest example would be the car trade between Japan and the United States: the Japanese specialize in the production of economical small cars for poor people, the Americans specialize in the production of prestigious expensive cars for the wealthy. As a result, both the Japanese and the Americans benefit from a situation where each country produces cars of all varieties.

International production cooperation, the second prerequisite for the development of integration blocks, is a form of production organization in which workers from different countries jointly participate in the same production process (or in different interconnected processes). Thus, many components for American and Japanese cars are produced in other countries, and only assembly is carried out at the main factories. As international cooperation develops, transnational corporations are formed that organize production on an international scale and regulate the world market.

Rice. The effect of economies of scale: with a small volume of output Q 1, only for the domestic market, the product has a high cost and, as a consequence, a high price; with a larger volume of output Q 2, using exports, the cost and price are significantly reduced.

The result of the international division of labor and international production cooperation is the development of the international socialization of production - the internationalization of production. It is economically beneficial because, firstly, it allows the most efficient use of resources from different countries ( cm. exposition of theories of absolute and relative advantages in trade in the article INTERNATIONAL TRADE), and secondly, it provides economies of scale. The second factor is the most important in modern conditions. The fact is that high-tech production requires high initial investments, which will only pay off if the production is large-scale ( cm. Fig.), otherwise the high price will scare away the buyer. Since the domestic markets of most countries (even such giants as the USA) do not provide a sufficiently high demand, high-tech production that requires high costs (automobile and aircraft manufacturing, the production of computers, video recorders...) becomes profitable only when working not only for domestic, but also for external markets.

The internationalization of production occurs simultaneously both at the global level and at the level of individual regions. To stimulate this objective process, special supranational economic organizations are created to regulate the world economy and intercept part of the economic sovereignty of national states.

Internationalization of production can develop in different ways. The simplest situation is when stable economic ties are established between different countries on the principle of complementarity. In this case, each country develops its own special set of industries in order to sell their products largely abroad, and then, with foreign exchange earnings, purchase goods from those industries that are better developed in other countries (for example, Russia specializes in the extraction and export of energy resources, importing consumer goods manufactured goods). The countries receive mutual benefits, but their economies develop somewhat one-sidedly and are heavily dependent on the world market. It is this trend that now dominates the world economy as a whole: against the backdrop of overall economic growth, the gap between developed and developing countries is widening. The main organizations that stimulate and control this kind of internationalization on a global scale are the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A higher level of internationalization implies equalization of the economic parameters of the participating countries. Internationally, economic organizations (for example, UNCTAD) under the United Nations seek to guide this process. However, the results of their activities still look rather insignificant. With a much more tangible effect, such internationalization develops not at the global, but at the regional level in the form of the creation of integration unions various groups countries

In addition to purely economic reasons, regional integration also has political incentives. Strengthening close economic relations between different countries and merging national economies extinguishes the possibility of their political conflicts and makes it possible to pursue a unified policy towards other countries. For example, the participation of Germany and France in the EU eliminated their political confrontation, which had lasted since the Thirty Years' War, and allowed them to act as a “united front” against common rivals (in the 1950s–1980s - against the USSR, since the 1990s - against the USA). The formation of integration groups has become one of the peaceful forms of modern geo-economic and geopolitical rivalry.

In the early 2000s, according to the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO), 214 regional trade agreements of an integration nature were registered in the world. There are international economic integration associations in all regions globe, they include countries with very different levels of development and socio-economic systems. The largest and most active existing integration blocs are the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization in the Pacific.

Stages of development of integration groups.

Regional economic integration in its development goes through a number of stages (Table 1):

Free trading zone,
Customs Union,
Common Market,
economic union and
political union.

At each of these stages, certain economic barriers (differences) between countries that have joined the integration union are eliminated. As a result, a single market space is being formed within the boundaries of the integration bloc; all participating countries benefit by increasing the efficiency of firms and reducing government costs for customs control.

Table 1. Stages of development of regional economic integration

Table 1. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
steps	Essence	Examples
1. Free trade zone	Cancellation of customs duties on trade between countries participating in the integration grouping	EEC in 1958–1968 EFTA since 1960 NAFTA since 1988 MERCOSUR since 1991
2. Customs union	Unification of customs duties in relation to third countries	EEC in 1968–1986 MERCOSUR since 1996
3. Common market	Liberalization of the movement of resources (capital, labor, etc.) between countries participating in the integration grouping	EEC in 1987–1992
4. Economic Union	Coordination and unification of the internal economic policies of the participating countries, including the transition to a single currency	EU since 1993
5. Political union	Carrying out a unified foreign policy	No examples yet

First it is created Free trading zone– internal customs duties on trade between participating countries are reduced. Countries voluntarily renounce the protection of their national markets in relations with their partners within the framework of this association, but in relations with third countries they act not collectively, but individually. While maintaining its economic sovereignty, each participant in the free trade zone sets its own external tariffs in trade with countries not participating in this integration association. Typically, the creation of a free trade area begins with bilateral agreements between two closely cooperating countries, which are then joined by new partner countries (as was the case in NAFTA: first, the US-Canada agreement, which was then joined by Mexico). Most existing economic integration unions are at this initial stage.

After the completion of the creation of a free trade zone, the participants in the integration bloc move to the customs union. Now external tariffs are being unified, a unified foreign trade policy is being pursued - the members of the union jointly establish a single tariff barrier against third countries. When customs tariffs in relation to third countries are different, this makes it possible for firms from countries outside the free trade zone to penetrate through the weakened border of one of the participating countries into the markets of all countries of the economic bloc. For example, if the tariff on American cars in France is high, and in Germany is low, then American cars can “conquer” France - first they will be sold to Germany, and then, due to the absence of domestic duties, they will be easily resold to France. The unification of external tariffs makes it possible to more reliably protect the emerging single regional market space and act in the international arena as a cohesive trading bloc. But at the same time, the participating countries of this integration association lose part of their foreign economic sovereignty. Since the creation of a customs union requires significant efforts to coordinate economic policies, not all free trade zones “grow” into a customs union.

The first customs unions appeared in the 19th century. (for example, the German customs union, Zollverein, which united a number of German states in 1834–1871), on the eve of the Second World War more than 15 customs unions functioned. But since at that time the role of the world economy in comparison with the intranational economy was small, these customs unions did not have special significance and did not pretend to be transformed into something else. The “era of integration” began in the 1950s, when the rapid growth of integration processes became a natural manifestation of globalization - the gradual “dissolution” of national economies in the world economy. Now the customs union is not considered as an end result, but only as an intermediate phase of economic cooperation between partner countries.

The third stage of development of integration associations is Common Market. Now, in addition to the minimization of internal duties, the elimination of restrictions on the movement from country to country of various factors of production - investments (capital), workers, information (patents and know-how) is added. This strengthens the economic interdependence of the member countries of the integration association. Freedom of movement of resources requires a high organizational level of interstate coordination. The common market was created in the EU; NAFTA is coming closer.

But the common market is not the final stage of integration development. To form a single market space, there is little freedom of movement across state borders for goods, services, capital and labor. To complete economic unification, it is also necessary to equalize tax levels, unify economic legislation, technical and sanitary standards, coordinate national credit and financial structures and social protection systems. The implementation of these measures finally leads to the creation of a truly single intra-regional market of economically united countries. This level of integration is usually called economic union. At this stage, the importance of special supranational management structures (such as the European Parliament in the EU) increases, capable of not only coordinating the economic actions of governments, but also making operational decisions on behalf of the entire bloc. Only the EU has so far reached this level of economic integration.

As the economic union develops in countries, the prerequisites for the highest level of regional integration may emerge - political union. It's about on the transformation of a single market space into an integral economic and political organism. During the transition from an economic union to a political one, a new multinational subject of world economic and international affairs emerges. political relations, which acts from a position expressing the interests and political will of all participants in these unions. In fact, a new major is being created federal state. While there is no regional economic bloc with such a high level of development, the closest thing to it is the EU, which is sometimes called the “United States of Europe.”

Prerequisites and results of integration processes.

Why in some cases (as in the EU) the integration bloc turned out to be strong and stable, but in others (as in the CMEA) - not? The success of regional economic integration is determined by a number of factors, both objective and subjective.

First, there must be similarity (or similarity) in the levels of economic development of the integrating countries. Typically, international economic integration occurs either between industrialized countries or between developing countries. The combination of countries of very different types in one integration bloc is quite rare; such situations usually have a purely political background (for example, the unification in the CMEA of the industrialized countries of Eastern Europe - like the GDR and Czechoslovakia - with the agricultural countries of Asia - like Mongolia and Vietnam) and end with “ divorce" of dissimilar partners. More sustainable is the integration of highly developed countries with newly industrialized countries (USA and Mexico in NAFTA, Japan and Malaysia in APEC).

Secondly, all participating countries must not only be similar in economic and socio-political systems, but also have a sufficiently high level of economic development. After all, the effect of economies of scale is noticeable mainly in high-tech industries. That is why, first of all, integration associations of highly developed countries of the “core” are successful, while “peripheral” unions are unstable. Underdeveloped countries are more interested in economic contacts with more developed partners than with those like themselves.

Thirdly, in the development of a regional integration union it is necessary to follow the sequence of phases: free trade area - customs union - common market - economic union - political union. It is possible, of course, to get ahead of ourselves when, for example, there is a political unification of countries that are not yet completely united in economically. However, historical experience shows that such a desire to reduce the “birth pangs” is fraught with the emergence of a “stillborn” union, which is too dependent on the political situation (this is exactly what happened with CMEA).

Fourthly, the association of participating countries must be voluntary and mutually beneficial. To maintain equality between them, some balance of power is desirable. Thus, the EU has four strong leaders (Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy), so weaker partners (for example, Spain or Belgium) can maintain their political weight in controversial situations by choosing which of the strong leaders is more profitable for them to join. The situation is less stable in NAFTA and in the EurAsEC, where one country (the United States in the first case, Russia in the second) surpasses all other partners in economic and political power.

Fifthly, a prerequisite for the emergence of new integration blocks is the so-called demonstration effect. Countries participating in regional economic integration typically experience faster economic growth, lower inflation, increased employment, and other positive economic developments. This becomes an enviable role model and has a certain stimulating effect on other countries. The demonstration effect was manifested, for example, in the desire of Eastern European countries to become members of the European Union as soon as possible, even without serious economic prerequisites for this.

The main criterion for the stability of an integration group is the share of mutual trade of partner countries in their total foreign trade (Table 2). If the members of a bloc trade mainly with each other and the share of mutual trade increases (as in the EU and NAFTA), then this shows that they have achieved a high degree of interconnection. If the share of mutual trade is small and, moreover, tends to decline (as in IVF), then such integration is fruitless and unstable.

Integration processes lead, first of all, to the development of economic regionalism, as a result of which certain groups of countries create for themselves more favorable conditions for trade, movement of capital and labor than for all other countries. Despite obvious protectionist features, economic regionalism is not considered negative factor for the development of the world economy, unless the group of integrating countries, simplifying mutual economic ties, establishes conditions for trade with third countries that are less favorable than before the start of integration.

It is interesting to note examples of “overlapping integration”: one country can be a member of several integration blocs at once. For example, the United States is a member of NAFTA and APEC, and Russia is a member of APEC and EurAsEC. Small blocs are preserved within large blocs (like Benelux in the EU). All this is a prerequisite for bringing closer the conditions for regional associations. Negotiations between regional blocs are also aimed at the same prospect of gradual development of regional integration into international internationalization. Thus, in the 1990s, a draft agreement was put forward for a transatlantic free trade area, TAFTA, which would connect NAFTA and the EU.

Table 2. Dynamics of the share of intraregional exports in the total exports of participating countries of some integration groups in 1970-1996

Table 2. DYNAMICS OF THE SHARE OF INTRAREGIONAL EXPORTS IN THE TOTAL EXPORTS OF COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING IN SOME INTEGRATION GROUPS IN 1970-1996
Integration groups	1970	1980	1985	1990	1996
European Union, EU (until 1993 – European Economic Community, EEC)	60%	59%	59%	62%	60%
North American Free Trade Area, NAFTA				41%	47%
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN	23%	17%	18%	19%	22%
South American Common Market, MERCOSUR				9%	20%
Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS		10%	5%	8%	11%
Economic Cooperation Organization, ECO (until 1985 – Regional Development Cooperation)	3%	6%	10%	3%	3%
Caribbean Community, CARICOM	5%	4%	6%	8%	4%
Compiled by: Shishkov Yu.V. . M., 2001

Thus, economic integration at the beginning of the 21st century. occurs on three tiers: bilateral trade and economic agreements of individual states - small and medium-sized regional groupings - three large economic and political blocs, between which there are cooperation agreements.

The main modern integration groups of developed countries.

Historically, international economic integration received its most profound development in Western Europe, where in the second half of the 20th century. a single economic space – the “United States of Europe” – was gradually created. The Western European community is currently the “oldest” integration bloc; it was its experience that served as the main object for imitation by other developed and developing countries.

There are many objective prerequisites for Western European integration. The countries of Western Europe have a long historical experience in the development of economic ties, as a result of which there has been a comparative unification of economic institutions (“rules of the game”). Western European integration was also based on similar cultural and religious traditions. A significant role in its emergence was played by the ideas of a united Europe, which were popular back in the medieval era as a reflection of the unity of the Christian world and as a memory of the Roman Empire. The results of the First and Second World Wars were also important, which finally proved that forceful confrontation in Western Europe will not bring victory to any one country, but will only lead to a general weakening of the entire region. Finally, geopolitical factors also played a significant role - the need to unite Western Europe to counter political influence from the east (from the USSR and Eastern European socialist countries) and economic competition from other leaders of the “core” of the capitalist world-economy (primarily the USA). This complex of cultural and political preconditions is unique and cannot be copied in any other region of the planet.

The beginning of Western European integration was laid by the Paris Treaty on the Establishment of European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC). In 1957, the Treaty of Rome creating European Economic Community(EEC), which came into force in 1958. In the same year, it was formed European Atomic Energy Community(Euratom). Thus, the Treaty of Rome united three large Western European organizations - the ECSC, the EEC and Euratom. Since 1993, the European Economic Community has been renamed the European Union. (EU), reflecting in the name change the increased degree of integration of the participating countries.

On first stage Western European integration developed within the framework of a free trade area. During this period, from 1958 to 1968, the Community included only 6 countries - France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. At the initial stage of integration between the participants, customs duties and quantitative restrictions on mutual trade were abolished, but each participating country still retained its national customs tariff in relation to third countries. During the same period, coordination of domestic economic policy began (primarily in the field of agriculture).

Table 3. Correlation of forces in the EEC and EFTA, 1960

Table 3. RELATION OF POWERS IN THE EEC AND EFTA, 1960
UES			EFTA
Countries			Countries	National income (billion dollars)	National income per capita (USD)
Germany	51,6	967	Great Britain	56,7	1082
France	39,5*	871*	Sweden	10,9	1453
Italy	25,2	510	Switzerland	7,3	1377
Holland	10,2	870	Denmark	4,8	1043
Belgium	9,4	1000	Austria	4,5	669
Luxembourg	9,4	1000	Norway	3,2*	889
			Portugal	2,0	225
TOTAL	135,9	803		89,4	1011
Data are for 1959. Compiled by: Yudanov Yu.I. The struggle for markets in Western Europe*. M., 1962

Almost simultaneously with the EEC, since 1960, another Western European integration group began to develop - European Free Trade Association(EFTA). If France played a leading role in the organization of the EEC, then Great Britain became the initiator of EFTA. Initially, EFTA was larger than the EEC - in 1960 it included 7 countries (Austria, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden), later it included 3 more countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Finland). However, the EFTA partners were much more heterogeneous than the EEC participants (Table 3). In addition, Great Britain was superior in economic strength to all its EFTA partners combined, while the EEC had three centers of power (Germany, France, Italy), and the most economically powerful EEC country did not have absolute superiority. All this predetermined the less successful fate of the second Western European group.

Second phase Western European integration, the customs union, turned out to be the longest - from 1968 to 1986. During this period, the member countries of the integration group introduced common external customs tariffs for third countries, establishing the level of rates of a single customs tariff for each product item as the arithmetic average of national rates. The severe economic crisis of 1973–1975 somewhat slowed down the integration process, but did not stop it. The European Monetary System began operating in 1979.

The successes of the EEC have made it a center of attraction for other Western European countries (Table 4). It is important to note that the majority of EFTA countries (first Great Britain and Denmark, then Portugal, in 1995 three countries at once) “crossed over” to the EEC from EFTA, thereby proving the advantages of the first group over the second. Essentially, EFTA turned out to be a kind of launching pad for most of its participants to join the EEC/EU.

Third stage Western European integration, 1987–1992, was marked by the creation of a common market. According to the Single European Act of 1986, the formation of a single market in the EEC was planned as “a space without internal borders, in which the free movement of goods, services, capital and civilians is ensured.” To achieve this, it was planned to eliminate border customs posts and passport control, unify technical standards and taxation systems, and carry out mutual recognition of educational certificates. Since the world economy was booming, all these measures were implemented quite quickly.

The outstanding achievements of the EU in the 1980s became a model for the creation of other regional integration blocs of developed countries fearing their economic lag. In 1988, the USA and Canada signed an agreement North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA), Mexico joined this union in 1992. In 1989, on the initiative of Australia, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization was formed, whose members initially included 12 countries - both highly developed and newly industrialized ones (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, USA).

Fourth stage Western European integration, the development of an economic union, began in 1993 and continues to this day. His main achievements were the transition to a single Western European currency, the euro, completed in 2002, and the introduction in 1999, in accordance with the Schengen Convention, of a single visa regime. In the 1990s, negotiations began on “eastern enlargement”—the admission of ex-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics into the EU. As a result, in 2004, 10 countries joined the EU, increasing the number of participants in this integration grouping to 25. Membership in APEC also expanded during these years: by 1997, there were already 21 countries, including Russia.

In the future it is possible fifth stage development of the EU, a Political Union, which would provide for the transfer by national governments of all basic political powers to supranational institutions. This would mean the completion of the creation of a single state entity - the “United States of Europe”. A manifestation of this trend is the growing importance of supranational EU governing bodies (the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament, etc.). The main problem is the difficulty of forming a unified political position EU countries in relation to their most important geopolitical rival, the United States (this was especially evident during the US invasion of Iraq in 2002): while the countries of continental Europe are gradually increasing their criticism of America’s claims to the role of “world policeman,” the UK remains a strong ally of the United States.

As for EFTA, this organization did not advance beyond the organization of duty-free trade; in the early 2000s, only four countries remained in its ranks (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway), which also seek to join the EU. When Switzerland (in 1992) and Norway (in 1994) held referendums on joining the Union, opponents of the move won only a narrow victory. There is no doubt that at the beginning of the 21st century. EFTA will completely merge with the EU.

In addition to the EU and the “moribund” EFTA, there are other, smaller Western European blocs such as the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) or the Nordic Council (Scandinavian countries).

Table 5. Comparative characteristics of the EU, NAFTA and APEC

Table 5. COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF EU, NAFTA and APEC
Characteristics	EU (since 1958)	NAFTA (since 1988)	APEC (since 1989)
Number of countries at the beginning of the 2000s	16	3	21
Integration level	Economic Union	Free trade Area	Formation of a free trade zone
Distribution of forces within the block	Polycentricity with overall German leadership	Monocentricity (USA is the absolute leader)	Polycentricity under the overall leadership of Japan
Degree of heterogeneity among participating countries	Lowest	Average	Highest
Development of supranational governance bodies	System of supranational governance bodies (EU Council, European Commission, European Parliament, etc.)	There are no special bodies of supranational governance	Bodies of supranational governance already exist, but do not play a big role
Share of world exports in 1997	40%	17%	42% (without NAFTA countries – 26%)

There are significant differences between the largest modern regional economic blocs of developed countries - the EU, NAFTA and APEC (Table 5). Firstly, the EU has a much higher level of integration, which is a result of its longer history. Secondly, if the EU and APEC are polycentric groupings, then the asymmetry of economic interdependence is clearly visible in NAFTA. Canada and Mexico are not so much partners in the integration process as competitors in the American market for goods and labor. Third, NAFTA and APEC are more diverse than their EU partners, since they include the newly industrialized countries of the Third World (APEC even includes even less developed countries, such as Vietnam and Papua New Guinea). Fourthly, if the EU has already developed a system of supranational governing bodies, in APEC these bodies are much weaker, and North American integration has not created institutions regulating mutual cooperation at all (the United States does not want to actually share management functions with its partners). Thus, Western European integration is stronger than the competing economic blocs of other developed countries.

Integration groups of developing countries.

In the “Third World” there are several dozen regional economic unions (Table 6), but their importance, as a rule, is relatively small.

Table 6. Largest modern regional integration organizations of developing countries

Table 6. THE LARGEST MODERN REGIONAL INTEGRATION ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Name and date of foundation	Compound
Integration organizations of Latin America
Latin American Free Trade Area (LAFTA) - since 1960	11 countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) - since 1967	13 countries - Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, etc.
Andean Group - since 1969	5 countries – Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
Common Market of the Southern Cone Countries (MERCOSUR) – since 1991	4 countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
Integration associations of Asia
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) – since 1964	10 countries – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - since 1967	6 countries – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines
BIMST Economic Community (BIMST-EC) – since 1998	5 countries – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Integration associations of Africa
East African Community (EAC) - since 1967, again since 1993	3 countries – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – since 1975	15 countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, etc.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) – since 1982	19 countries - Angola, Burundi, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, etc.
Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) – since 1989	5 countries – Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia
Compiled by: Shishkov Yu.V. Integration processes on the threshold of the 21st century. Why are the CIS countries not integrating?. M., 2001

The first wave of bloc formation took place in the 1960s and 1970s, when “self-reliance” seemed to underdeveloped countries to be the most effective tool for countering “imperialist enslavement” by developed countries. Since the main prerequisites for the unification were of a subjective-political rather than objective-economic nature, most of these integration blocs turned out to be stillborn. Subsequently, trade relations between them either weakened or froze at a rather low level.

Indicative in this sense is the fate of the East African Community: over the next 10 years, domestic exports fell in Kenya from 31 to 12%, in Tanzania from 5 to 1%, so that by 1977 the community collapsed (it was restored in 1993, but without much effect). The best fate turned out to be the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), created in 1967: although it failed to increase the share of mutual trade, this share remains stably at a fairly high level. It is especially noteworthy that in the mutual trade of the countries of Southeast Asia by the 1990s, finished products began to predominate rather than raw materials, which is typical for groups of developed countries, but in the “third world” is so far the only example.

A new wave of creation of integration blocs began in the “third world” in the 1990s. The era of “romantic expectations” is over; now economic unions have begun to be created on a more pragmatic basis. An indicator of increasing “realism” is the tendency to reduce the number of countries participating in integration blocs - it is more convenient to manage economic rapprochement, of course, in small groups, where there is less difference between partners and it is easier to achieve agreement between them. The most successful bloc of the “second generation” was the Common Market of the Southern Cone Countries (MERCOSUR), founded in 1991.

The main reason for the failure of most integration experiences in the Third World is that they lack two main prerequisites for successful integration - similar levels of economic development and a high degree of industrialization. Since the main trading partners of developing countries are developed countries, the integration of Third World countries with each other is doomed to stagnation. The best chances are for the newly industrialized countries (they predominate in ASEAN and MERCOSUR), which have approached the level of development of the industrialized ones.

Integration groupings of socialist and transition countries.

When the socialist camp existed, an attempt was made to unite them into a single bloc not only politically, but also economically. The organization regulating the economic activities of socialist countries was the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), created in 1949. It should be recognized as the first post-war integration bloc, ahead of the emergence of the EEC. It was initially created as an organization of socialist countries only in Eastern Europe, but later it included Mongolia (1962), Cuba (1972) and Vietnam (1978). If we compare the CMEA with other integration blocs in terms of the share of world exports, then in the 1980s it was in second place, far behind the EEC, but ahead of the next EFTA, not to mention the blocs of developing countries (Table 7). However, these seemingly attractive data concealed serious flaws in “socialist” integration.

Table 7. Comparative data on integration groups of the 1980s

Table 7. COMPARATIVE DATA ABOUT INTEGRATION GROUPS OF THE 1980s (data on CMEA for 1984, all others – for 1988)
Integration groups	Share in world exports
European Economic Community (EEC)	40%
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA)	8%
European Free Trade Association (EFTA)	7%
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)	4%
Andean Pact	1%
Compiled by: Daniels John D., Radeb Lee H. International Business: external environment and business transactions. M., 1994

In theory, national economies were supposed to act in the CMEA as components of a single world socialist economy. But the market mechanism of integration turned out to be blocked - this was hampered by the foundations of the state-monopoly economic system of the socialist countries, which did not allow the development of independent horizontal connections between enterprises even within the same country, and impeded the free movement of financial resources, labor, goods and services. A purely administrative mechanism of integration, relying not on profit, but on obedience to orders, was possible, but its development was opposed by the “brotherly” socialist republics, who did not at all want complete subordination to the interests of the USSR. Therefore, already in the 1960–1970s, the positive potential for the development of CMEA was exhausted; subsequently, the trade turnover of the countries of Eastern Europe with the USSR and with each other began to gradually decline, and, on the contrary, to grow with the West (Table 8).

Table 8. Dynamics of the structure of foreign trade turnover of six CMEA countries in Eastern Europe

Table 8. DYNAMICS OF THE STRUCTURE OF FOREIGN TRADE TURNOVER OF THE SIX CMEA COUNTRIES OF EASTERN EUROPE (BULGARIA, HUNGARY, GDR, POLAND, ROMANIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA), in %
Export objects	1948	1958	1970	1980	1990
USSR	16	40	38	37	39
Other European countries Comecon	16	27	28	24	13
Western Europe	50	18	22	30	33
Compiled by: Shishkov Yu.V. Integration processes on the threshold of the 21st century. Why are the CIS countries not integrating?. M., 2001

The collapse of the CMEA in 1991 showed that the thesis of Soviet propaganda about the integration of national socialist economies into a single entity did not stand the test of time. In addition to purely political factors, the main reason for the collapse of the CMEA was the same reasons due to which most integration groupings of the “third world” countries do not function: by the time they entered the “path of socialism”, most countries had not reached that high stage of industrial maturity, which presupposes formation of internal incentives for integration. Socialist countries Eastern Europe used its participation in CMEA to stimulate its economic development mainly through material assistance from the USSR - in particular, through the supply of cheap (compared to world prices) raw materials. When the USSR government tried to introduce payment for goods into the CMEA not at conditional, but at real world prices, then, under conditions of weakened political dictatorship, the former Soviet satellites chose to refuse to participate in the CMEA. They created their own economic union in 1992, Central European Free Trade Agreement(CEFTA), and began negotiations on accession to the EU.

In the 1990–2000s, hopes for economic integration of Russia with the countries of Eastern Europe were completely buried. Under the new conditions, some opportunities for the development of economic integration remained only in relations between the former republics of the USSR.

The first attempt to create a post-Soviet economic space a new viable economic bloc was the Union independent states(CIS), uniting 12 states - all ex-Soviet republics, except the Baltic countries. In 1993 in Moscow, all CIS countries signed an agreement on the creation of an Economic Union to form a single economic space on a market basis. However, when in 1994 an attempt was made to move to practical action by creating a free trade zone, half of the participating countries (including Russia) considered it premature. Many economists believe that the CIS, even in the early 2000s, performs mainly political rather than economic functions. The failure of this experiment was largely influenced by the fact that they tried to create an integration bloc in the midst of a protracted economic recession, which lasted in almost all CIS countries until the end of the 1990s, when the prevailing sentiment was “every man for himself.” The beginning of economic recovery created more favorable conditions for integration experiments.

The next experience of economic integration was Russian-Belarusian relations. The close relations between Russia and Belarus are not only economic, but also political basis: Of all the post-Soviet states, Belarus is most sympathetic to Russia. In 1996, Russia and Belarus signed the Treaty on the Formation of the Community of Sovereign Republics, and in 1999, the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, with a supranational governing body. Thus, without consistently going through all the integration stages (without even creating a free trade zone), both countries immediately began to create a political union. This “running ahead” turned out to not be very fruitful - according to many experts, the Union State of Russia and Belarus existed in the first years of the 21st century. more on paper than in real life. His survival is possible in principle, but it is necessary to bring him under solid foundation– go through all the “skipped” stages of economic integration in sequence.

The third and most serious approach to the integration union is the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), created on the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev. The Treaty on the Formation of the Eurasian Economic Community, signed in 2000 by the presidents of five countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan), turned out (at least at first) to be more successful than previous integration experiences. As a result of lowering internal customs barriers, it was possible to stimulate mutual trade. By 2006, it is planned to complete the unification of customs tariffs, thereby moving from the stage of a free trade zone to a customs union. However, although the volume of mutual trade between the EurAsEC countries is growing, the share of their mutual trade in export-import operations continues to decline, which is a symptom of an objective weakening of economic relations.

The ex-Soviet states also created economic unions without the participation of Russia - the Central Asian Economic Community (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova - since 1997), the Moldovan-Romanian free trade zone, etc. d. In addition, there are economic blocs that unite the former republics of the USSR with “foreign” countries, for example, the Economic Cooperation Organization (Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey), APEC (Russia became a member in 1997).

Thus, in the post-Soviet economic space there are both attraction factors (primarily interest in sales markets for goods that have little competition in the West) and push factors (economic inequality of participants, differences in their political systems, the desire to get rid of the “hegemony” of large and powerful countries, reorient to a more promising world market). Only the future will show whether the integration ties inherited from the Soviet era will continue to die out or whether new supports for economic cooperation will be found.

Latov Yuri

Literature:

Daniels John D., Radeb Lee H. International Business: External Environment and Business Operations, ch. 10. M., 1994
Semenov K.A. . M., Yurist-Gardarika, 2001
Shishkov Yu.V. Integration processes on the threshold of the 21st century. Why are the CIS countries not integrating?. M., 2001
Kharlamova V.N. International economic integration. Tutorial. M., Ankil, 2002
Krylatykh E., Strokova O. Regional trade agreements within the WTO and the CIS agricultural market. – World economy and international relations. 2003, no. 3

Currently, there are two trends in the global economy. On the one hand, the integrity of the world economy and its globalization are increasing, which is caused by the development of economic relations between countries, trade liberalization, the creation of modern communication and information systems, global technical standards and norms. On the other hand, there is economic rapprochement and interaction between countries at the regional level, large regional integration structures are being formed - developing towards the creation of relatively independent centers of the world economy. The main advantage of international integration groups is more profitable use of the opportunities of mutually beneficial economic ties that contribute to an increase in GDP production and the efficiency of its use, which is a condition for sustainable economic growth. The reasons stated above force a new interpretation of the concept, essence and content of sustainable development of national economies in the context of international economic integration.

internationalization.

Integration processes

National economy

International economic integration

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2. Great economic encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo, 2008. - P. 249.

3. Dakhin V. Underwater reefs of globalization // Free Thought. - 2008. - No. 4. - P.55-61.

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In modern conditions, the increasing internationalization and openness of national economies, the international division of labor, dynamic changes in market conditions, the exit of the production cycle, financial flows, movement of labor beyond the national framework, modern systems transport, communications and information and other factors contribute to the rapid development of integration processes and their transition to a new qualitative level.

Many scientists are engaged in the study of integration in general, and its individual elements, relationships and manifestations. In domestic economic science, integration problems are considered in the works of E. M. Korostyshevskaya, E. F. Gershtein, G. R. Margolit, A. Marshak, A. Molotnikov, A. Radygin, etc. A very significant scientific and practical potential has been accumulated, which formed as a result of many years of discussion studying the problems of integration. However, among researchers of this issue there is no unambiguous opinion, as well as a unified theoretical approach to the interpretation of its nature and content.

Integration as a phenomenon has existed for a long time and has been used as a concept in scientific literature for several decades.

As is known, the term “integration” was first used in the 30s of the twentieth century by a number of German and Swedish scientists and translated from Latin (from Latin integratio - restoration, replenishment from integer - whole) integration means the unification of any parts into a whole , elements.

IN this study The issues that interest us are related to the economic aspect of the study of integration processes and lie within the framework of the economic plane.

Let us give a typical definition of integration, given in many economics textbooks and economic dictionaries: integration - (from integer - whole) - is “the unification of economic entities, the deepening of their interaction, the development of connections between them.”

International economic integration (IEI) is “an objective process of development of particularly deep and sustainable relationships between individual groups of countries, based on their implementation of coordinated interstate policies.”

The main features of international economic integration are:

interpenetration and interweaving of national production processes;
structural changes in the economies of participating countries;
necessity and targeted regulation of integration processes.

The benefits of international economic integration:

an increase in market size - a manifestation of economies of scale;
increased competition between countries;
ensuring better trading conditions;
expanding trade in parallel with improving infrastructure;
dissemination of new technologies.

The negative consequences of international economic integration are:

outflow of resources (factors of production) from more backward countries in favor of stronger partners;
increase in prices for goods as a result of oligopolistic collusion between transnational corporations of participating countries;
the effect of losses from increasing the scale of production.

The following forms of international economic integration are distinguished (with increasing integration towards the end of the list):

Preferential zone;
Free trade Area;
Customs Union;
Common Market;
Economic Union;
Economic and monetary union.

Preferential zone is a form of international integration. The preferential zone unites countries in whose mutual trade customs duties on imported goods have been reduced or eliminated.

A free trade area (FTA) is a type of international integration in which customs duties, taxes and fees, as well as quantitative restrictions in mutual trade in accordance with an international treaty are abolished in the participating countries.

A customs union (CU) is an agreement between two or more states (a form of interstate agreement) on the abolition of customs duties in trade between them, a form of collective protectionism from third countries.

The common market is a form of economic integration of countries that involves the free movement of goods, works and services, as well as factors of production - capital, labor resources - across the borders of countries that are members of the common market.

An economic union is one of the types of trade blocs, characterized by the following features:

The presence of agreements on the freedom of movement of other factors of production, that is, financial and human capital;
Availability of agreements on the harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies.

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is one of the types of trade blocs, characterized by the following features:

Abolition of customs duties on trade between the countries of the union, a form of collective protectionism from third countries;
The presence of agreements on the freedom of movement of other factors of production, that is, capital and labor;
Availability of agreements on the harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies;
The presence of supranational governing bodies and the implementation of a unified macroeconomic policy.

At the end of the 20th century. economic integration has become a powerful tool for the accelerated and harmonious development of regional economies and increasing the competitiveness in the world market of countries participating in integration groupings.

In recent years, the Russian Federation has increasingly taken part in the processes of internationalization of the world economy, which is largely due to the fact that the world community has learned to see modern Russia as a full partner. The volume of foreign trade both with the CIS countries and with non-CIS countries grew continuously until the onset of the global economic crisis. Currently, after a sharp decline, positive dynamics have emerged again.

The increased openness of the Russian economy led to an increase in the volume of foreign investment, an increase in financial stability ratings, a decrease in risk indicators for foreign investors, and finally, to the Russian Federation’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The main problems hindering the development of integration processes in the Russian economy, from our point of view, include:

1. Insufficient level of internal integration national economy. No federal-type state can count on effective economic integration with other countries, provided that a sufficient level of economic integration has not yet been achieved within the country. In the case of Russia, this is expressed in the extremely uneven development of the economies of the country’s regions (and this is a large gap in the standard of living of the population and the development of productive forces), as well as in the low level of interregional economic cooperation. The vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises work only on the domestic market of the region, without establishing business contacts outside its borders.

2. Lack of a unified state system for assessing the development of integration processes in the national economy, as well as in the economies of the constituent entities Russian Federation. It is quite difficult to assess the level of development of integration processes in the form of a quantitative indicator, which is explained by the multifactorial nature of the processes under consideration. At the same time, for government authorities, the availability of data on the level of development of economic integration is very important, since this greatly facilitates the monitoring of integration processes and allows for a more successful foreign economic policy. Today, most regions of the Russian Federation either do not have such assessment systems at all, or use different methods for calculating the integral assessment indicator, which makes their results incomparable.

3. Poorly developed infrastructure, especially the poor condition of transport systems. The effectiveness of the process of international economic integration largely depends on the level of infrastructure development in the integrating countries. In Russia, the state of transport systems is generally unsatisfactory; certain sections of federal highways are generally unsuitable for transportation. The level of development of information infrastructure in the regions of Russia also remains low.

4. Russia’s historically established role as the undisputed leader in the post-Soviet space, which often prevents the country’s leadership from adequately perceiving its partners from the CIS countries. Economic integration in the vast majority of cases presupposes an equal partnership built on mutually beneficial cooperation, which assumes that the parties take into account each other’s interests. The leadership of the Russian Federation is often unwilling to make concessions, having become accustomed to the role of an unconditional leader capable of dictating his own terms. In particular, it is this factor that significantly slows down cooperation between Russia and Belarus.

Firstly, it seems rational to develop unified system assessing the level of development of integration processes in the national economy and in the economies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. This step will significantly facilitate the task of monitoring the process of international integration and will open up new opportunities for planning activities for the development of integration processes and monitoring their implementation. With the development of such a system, public authorities will receive a new powerful tool for carrying out regional policy, which should have a positive impact on the country’s economy as a whole.

Secondly, it is necessary to improve regional policy, while stimulating the development of international and interregional integration processes in federal level should pursue the goal of balanced development of regions. When regulating interregional economic relations, the authorities of each region must have guidelines for building international and interregional relations and understand the strategic objectives of the development of the country's economic system as a whole.

Further, the state should pay more attention to the development of transport and information infrastructure in the regions of Russia. While allocating more funds to finance relevant programs, it is necessary to simultaneously tighten control over their targeted spending. Moreover, in this area, we see it as advisable to develop projects on the basis of public-private partnership. Both the state benefits from this - from increased tax revenues - and business - by reducing costs and entering new markets.

And finally, the country’s leadership should form a slightly different understanding of the processes of economic integration with the CIS countries, pay more attention to the needs of its partners and, perhaps, compromise more often without dictating its terms directly. This will strengthen economic and political ties in the post-Soviet space and improve the image of the Russian Federation in the international arena.

As a result of the implementation of the proposed set of measures, Russia must overcome the main obstacles that prevent it from fully using the enormous economic potential that international economic integration offers. In turn, the development of integration processes in the Russian Federation should give a powerful impetus to the development of the national economy as a whole.

Reviewers:

Pozdnyakova Tamara Alekseevna, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Head of the Department of Taxes and Taxation, North Caucasus Mining and Metallurgical Institute (State Technological University), Vladikavkaz.

Khekilaev S. T., Doctor of Economics, Professor, Head of the Department of Economics and Enterprise Management, North Caucasus Mining and Metallurgical Institute (State Technological University), Vladikavkaz.

Bibliographic link

Takazova M.T. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND PROBLEMS OF ITS DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA // Modern problems of science and education. – 2013. – No. 1.;
URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=8431 (access date: 12/22/2019). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"

The experience of many integration associations of the 20th century. shows that they are formed mainly on two basic principles. One principle is the powerful proactive role of the state (a classic example is the creation and development of the European Union); another principle is the predominant role of large private enterprise, which forces the state to take the path of integration rapprochement with one or another group of countries (examples: the Treaty between the United States, Canada and Mexico, NAFTA).

In the first case, an institutional type of integration develops, in the second, a private-corporate one. Both of them are products of world globalization, characterized by the following phenomena:

The spread of telecommunications and information technologies;
Reducing national barriers to trade and investment;
Increased cash flows and interdependence of financial markets.

The global process of economic integration is mostly of a mixed nature, since it is pushed, on the one hand, by developed countries and their governments, on the other hand by powerful transnational corporations, and on the third hand by large and influential international financial, economic and financial institutions and institutions (WTO, WB, IMF), as well as UN structures.

Globalization has many advantages and disadvantages, and, accordingly, those who support it and anti-globalists, but they are not discussed in this section. The process of globalization continues dynamically, and staying away from it means losing the status of a progressive state and competitive advantages on the world stage. Therefore, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, as members of one economic community and as individual states, are implementing gradual global integration through accession to the WTO.

In 2009, representatives of the member states of the Customs Union (Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus) came to an agreement to join the WTO as a single customs space. However, the WTO rejected the possibility of three states joining in a community format. In October 2009, the authorities of the three states announced that they had agreed to continue negotiations with the WTO separately, but “on the basis of standards and positions agreed upon with other members of the union.”

In 2012, Russia completed the accession process and became a member of the WTO. Kazakhstan continues the economic reforms and harmonization of legislation required for accession, and plans to become a member of the WTO by 2015. The process is extremely complex, especially due to the possible discrepancy between the conditions for accession to the WTO for Kazakhstan and Russia, which could seriously affect cooperation between states within the Customs Union. This is perhaps one of the most colorful examples of the conflict between regional and global integration, which is so far being resolved in favor of global integration, as more promising from an economic point of view. However, Kazakhstan's accession to the WTO does not exclude compromise solutions in favor of maintaining the conditions of regional integration.

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Global integration. Principles, types and forms of integration. The main modern integration groupings of developed countries

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