Although a number of attempts at regional economic integration have been made by neighboring developing nations around the world, especially in the past ten years, no comparative studies have heretofore appeared. The importance of this book lies in the fact that, by collecting all the major multinational agreements and other legal documents, which are extremely difficult to locate, it is now possible for economic developers to profit from the knowledge of what has been done by other groups of developing nations. Until now developers have had to rely on their own limited experiences and on the more readily available information concerning the accomplishment of economic union among developed nations (which is not altogether pertinent). Because the basic conditions that precede economic integration are strikingly alike around the developing world – the similarities far outweigh the differences – this handbook will have universal applicability, especially now that regional common markets and economic cooperatives will be created in the future at an even faster pace. The reason for this, Wionczek argues, is that the great majority of the “new nations” are not economically viable and will have to enter into regional alliances for the sake of economic acceleration, or even survival.
