TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION UNIONS: A METHODOLOGICAL ASPECT
The processes currently taking place in the global economy, namely globalization, changes in market trends, tougher competition, and the associated uncertainty in international economic and political ties give rise to new imperatives for the mutual arrangement of the states. Thus, economic integration is perhaps the key process contributing to the sustainable development of the leading and developing countries of the world. Regionally integrated territories are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, integration is influenced by the concentration criteria of more intensive economic relations between regions, institutional coordination based on long-term general norms. The regions should be economically managed to ensure the sustainability of the socio-economic system, which means to maintain its functional features and structural components. Economic development is considered to be a fundamental concept rooted in evolutionary and revolutionary approaches and applied to determine the conditions for the development of cross-border regions. Cross-border regions’ development was analyzed, and the results show that this concept was regulated by the theories of globalization, regionalization, and transnationalism at its different stages. The methodological framework was understudied, and this outlined the need to up-grade the classification of socio-economic system development types with a “structural changes” criterion. The economic development of the region is defined as a consistent process leading to better living conditions of the inhabitants. To achieve the target living standard, key target indicators of the socio-economic development should be achieved with the cost-efficient exploitation of the region’s resource capacity. The criteria for the typology of regional integration unions are systematized and divided into the stages of development, the level of management, the models of border and interregional relations, an institutionalization level of cross-border cooperation. The factors which affect regional integration and relevant trends of its development are defined. An institutional and economic approach has been applied to define a modern group of regional integration associations. This approach accounts the interaction of socio-economic and organizational-economic relations and their ties with the efficient powers of the region. The typology of regional integration unions includes a framework, surface, and rational integration.