Integration in Regional Organizations ? A Comparison of EU, AU, OAS,and ASEAN

Abstract

Regional organizations differ in many ways – one is the degree of integration. This article examines the political systems of EU, AU, OAS, and ASEAN. As a result, one could conclude that the degree of integration within the EU is high, because the member states transferred many competences to the common EU institutions. The AU takes the EU as an example and tries to establish similar structures, but it does not reach this degree of integration for a long time yet. OAS and ASEAN have comparatively the lowest degree of integration as their members indeed cooperate in various policy fields, but are not willing to transfer competences to common institutions.