European Integration: Reflections on its Limits and Effects

One of the principal goals of this journal is to evaluate the impact of the globalization of law, politics, and markets. This article focuses on the economic integration of markets in Europe, where one aspect of the "globalization" process-the process by which laws, national economies, and political systems are becoming ever more entwined and interdependent-has occurred to the greatest extent, albeit at a regional level. I will first give an overview of this process and consider the factors that the European experience in "regionalization" suggests may limit economic and other forms of integration at the global level. I will then speculate on how the integration of markets in Europe will change European trade policies and on how those changes might affect the United States.