The twentieth century saw the consolidation of national economies. The twenty-first century could very well be the time of regional trading blocs: today, nearly every country on Earth is part of one o..
The twentieth century saw the consolidation of national economies. The twenty-first century could very well be the time of regional trading blocs: today, nearly every country on Earth is part of one or more such blocs. Financial and manufacturing firms, labour, interest groups, and other economic actors are operating in regional economic spaces. But does this mean that those actors will necessarily acquire a more regional character? And will blocs over the long term help or hinder the rise of a truly international economy? This chapter argues in this chapter that trading blocs are highly complex projects that can have multifaceted implications for economic actors and the international economy. Rather than a simple economic space, twenty-first century capitalism is likely to bring complexity and variation.