The Rush to Regionalism: Sustainable Development and Regional/Bilateral Approaches to Trade and Investment Liberalization
This paper aims to set out the issues of importance in addressing the links
between sustainable development and the rush to regionalism. It begins by
describing the trends in regional agreements. It then surveys current
practice, asking how the agreements address a number of key issues of
importance to sustainable development, both in the context of economic
development and the context of environment. Based on that survey, and a
survey of the literature, it then sets out a number of key themes, and asks
what we know and do not know about each. The concluding section describes
the state of research in relation to these themes.