Differentiated disintegration in the Economic Community of West African States, the Eurasian Economic Community and the European Union: a comparative regionalism approach

Figures & data

Table 1. List of regional organisations with voluntary state exits (ordered by ‘regionness’).

No.	Acronym	Institution	Foundation – dissolution/replacement	Voluntary exits and dates
Regional society				Total: 45 exits
1	ACC	Arab Cooperation Council	1989–1990	Egypt (1990)
2	ALBA	Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas	2004	Bolivia (2019) – re-joined 2020 Ecuador (2018) Honduras (2010)
3	CEEAC	Economic Community of Central African States	1983	Rwanda (2007) – re-joined 2016
4	CEFTA	Central European Free Trade Agreement	1992	Poland (2004) Hungary (2004) Czechia (2004) Slovakia (2004) Slovenia (2004) Romania (2007) Bulgaria (2007) Croatia (2013)
5	CELAC	Community of Latin American and Caribbean States	2011	Brazil (2020)
6	CIS	Commonwealth of Independent States	1991	Georgia (2009)
7	COE	Council of Europe	1949	Russia (2022)
8	COMESA	Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa	1993	Lesotho (1997) Mozambique (1997) Tanzania (2000) Namibia (2004) Angola (2007)
9	CSTO	Collective Security Treaty Organization	1992	Azerbaijan (1999) Georgia (1999) Uzbekistan (1999) – re-joined 2006 Uzbekistan (2012)
10	EFTA	European Free Trade Association	1960	Austria (1994) Denmark (1972) Finland (1994) Portugal (1985) Sweden (1994) UK (1972)
11	EurAsEC	EurAsian Economic Community	2000–2014	Uzbekistan (2008)
12	GUAM	Organization for Democracy and Economic Development	1997	Uzbekistan (2005)
13	IGAD	Intergovernmental Authority on Development	1986	Eritrea (2007) – re-joined 2011
14	OAU	Organisation of African Unity	1963–2002	Morocco (1984)
15	PIF	Pacific Island Forum	1971	Kiribati (2022) – re-joined 2023
16	SADC	Southern African Development Community	1980	Seychelles (2004) – re-joined 2008
17	SEATO	Southeast Asia Treaty Organization	1954–1977	Pakistan (1972)
18	UNASUR	Union of South American Nations	2008	Argentina (2018) Brazil (2018) Chile (2018) Colombia (2018) Paraguay (2018) Peru (2018) Uruguay (2020)
Regional community				Total: 3 exits
19	ANDEAN	Andean Community	1969	Chile (1976) Venezuela (2006)
20	ECOWAS	Economic Community of West African States	1975	Mauritania (2000)
Regional (institutionalised) polity				Total: 1 exit
21	EU	European Union	1951	UK (2020)

Source: own compilation.²

Table 2. Regionness typology.

level of regionness	characteristics	empirical examples
regional space	geographically delineated region; few relations among neighbouring societies	/
regional system	loose regional cooperation in security affairs	Eastern and Western Europe in the Cold War era
regional society	institution building; regional cooperation in several policy areas	EFTA, Eurasian Union
regional community	developing supranational authority; emerging regional identification	Andean Community, ASEAN, ECOWAS, MERCOSUR
regional (institutionalised) polity	Deep political, economic and institutional integration; pooled sovereignty; actor capabilities; elements of supranational identity	EU

Adapted from: Hettne & Söderbaum (2000).

Hettne, B., and F. Söderbaum. 2000. “Theorising the Rise of Regionness.” New Political Economy 5 (3): 457–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/713687778.

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