The Comprehensive International Region

The third ideal type of international region is the comprehensive design. This model exists when both transnational and intergovernmental relations are functioning among a certain group of states. Policies and legislation are formulated and executed by both governmental and non-governmental elites with a view to attaining identical, similar, or related objectives (Kaiser, 1968: 93). Decisions in this sector are often taken jointly or in consultation and are therefore of a co-operative nature. The federal measures introduced in the Maastricht Treaty illustrate the type of decision-making process that is characteristic of such an international region. The Western European international region is best described as a comprehensive international region. Transnational and intergovernmental forces associated with a comprehensive entity have continued to evolve across this region in the last few decades.

Political decisions of this kind are those that attempt to reflect the general will of the people, including changes in social trends and attitudes As such, a comprehensive international region is one where the political elite and their constituents do more than interact regularly. They formulate policy together after discussing the various alternatives available The Maastricht Treaty ratification process, as discussed earlier, illustrates the type of decision­ making process that would become a dominant feature once a comprehensive international region developed

Social patterns o f interaction in this type of international region aim at removing all national immigration barriers and establishing the freedom of movement for all participating states' citizens. The abolition of border controls among European Union member states is an example of such a measure in practice The degree o f interaction at this level therefore increases because it is what both governments and transnational forces advocate.

Comprehensive international regions can be areas where economic interaction on the societal level is stimulated or directed toward specific objectives by joint action of the governments (ex., the European Economic Area), or through co-ordination of national policies with the assistance of supranational institutions (ex., the World Bank). For example, after agreeing to harmonise legislation across state borders and thus open national markets to external competition so they can participate as full members in the development of a comprehensive international region, government representatives will call a referendum or election to confirm that their actions are in line with what transnational elites in the area are seeking

This international region modality includes any collection of states involved in "integration" schemes. It also includes those groupings aimed at establishing "security communities," in a Deutschian sense, such as NATO or WEU (Deutsch et al, 1957). However, any level of integration must stop short of federation, since attainment of such an objective would no longer qualify the area as an international region. Instead, a new national or quasi­ national system would come into existence. Thus the creation of a "United States of Europe" would disqualify the European experiment from this category, as the area in question would become more akin to a national system rather than an international region.

Comprehensive international regions contribute to the formation o f similar regional structures if i) such regional models have hurt or are expected to hurt the interests of other regions ("the threat effect"), or if ii) the comprehensive modality is relevant as a model to other regions ("the demonstration effect"). In other words, a comprehensive international region can assist in the creation of other regional types whenever other states feel that their

interests are being undermined. One could for example argue that the North American Free Trade Area is largely an initiative aimed at countering the integration efforts being pursued by European Union member states. On the other hand, a comprehensive international region may simply be imitated because it has served as an adequate model for problem-solving. It may have also demonstrated how a group of nations can enhance their international weighting by simply participating in a larger network system This may help explain the emergence of numerous regional integration schemes over the years that in some manner or other have tried to replicate the European process of integration (Helleiner, 1994: 5).

The comprehensive international region is therefore the most intricate of the three ideal types presented. The harmonisation of both public and private objectives is central to the achievement o f such an international region. As illustrative examples of this type of international region one can consider some of the goals sought by those who adhere to a federalist vision of Europe. The removal o f internal borders and the establishment of freedom of movement demonstrates comprehensive international regional social patterns of interaction The Maastricht Treaty provisions spelling out economic and fiscal convergence measures and the eventual framing of a single currency reflect the type o f economic trends that would exist in such a region Political interaction would be highly centralised. Yet, each member of the region would retain its right to object to propositions put forward by other members of the same community. Thus political integration, to be achieved through the co-ordination and realisation of policies through regular meetings, and not federalism, is the type of political interaction in such a region. Military patterns of interaction resemble those set out in the EU proposal to establish a common foreign and security regional policy Again, each member state retains the right to act unilaterally to defend their national security, but the overriding goal is

for all the members to pool their resources together to safeguard the interests of the comprehensive international region as a whole

In short, a comprehensive international region is one that aims at harmonising its transnational and intergovernmental policy-making process Unlike the previous two international region modalities, interaction within this model is largely co-operative. However, co-operation and co-ordination stops short of establishing a federation, as this would automatically disqualify it from the international region taxonomy. At the very least, a comprehensive international region requires that the states involved mutually recognise their sovereign equality. At the maximal end of this spectrum, the participating states would form a confederation, in which the group of states have become sufficiently similar in structure, ideology, outlook, identity and policy, that they can share some functions of government (Buzan, 1994: 4)

Governmental and non-governmental groups work together to remove as many of the internal barriers within their area as is feasible. Yet, they are simultaneously very careful to keep their agenda in line with public thinking so as not to move further or faster than their citizens are prepared to accept. Comprehensive international regions are therefore unimaginable amongst units that do not share many important social, economic, political and military characteristics.