Regional Integration and Peace

The existence of (positive) linkages between regional economic integration and peace and security is accepted by many and is an assumption behind many contemporary discourses in favour of more cooperation and integration at the regional level in order to avoid or end bilateral, regional and even domestic conflicts. European postwar history and the initial phases of European integration are thereby explicitly or implicitly presented as a demonstration of the validity of the assumption. The contribution of cooperation in functional areas to regional peace was even elevated to the status of theory by functionalist theory (Mitrany, 1966, 1975). It is often assumed that this experience is replicable in other parts of the world. This short note simply presents a few considerations on these linkages with the only purpose to help to clarify these linkages, both conceptually and empirically.