Introduction: Economic integration, the removal of tariff and non-tariff restrictions and the
unification of economic regulations and policies between different economies is one
of the most contested issues among economists, political economists and students of
economic development. It is claimed to produce public goods by some (Baldwin,
2004; Balassa, 1965), increase patterns of economic and social exclusion by others
(Bieler 2002, 2006; Bohle 2006, 2009). In these debates a special role is played by
students of the governance of economic integration who claim that the level of
progress in, and the developmental outcomes of market integration are largely shaped
by the way integration is governed (Drezner, 2007; Mattli and Woods, 2014; Offe,
2014; Bruszt and McDermott, 2014
