Despite abundant scepticism about their economic benefits, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have proliferated at a rapid pace. Policy diffusion models explain how different sets of preferential trade agreements are interconnected and establish under what conditions FTAs can work for or against the emergence of coherent regional blocs.

Regional integration seems to be thriving, as the examples of the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and the Southern Common Market well illustrate. More ambitious schemes, such as Asian Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), and those for Western hemispheric integration are also underway. How do these trends for integration relate to national development strategies? The contributors to this volume provide new insights into these developments as well as assessing the prospects for further integration.