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International Transactions and Regional Integration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Donald J. Puchala
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Extract

The relevance of transaction analysis to the study of regional integration has been the subject of controversy. In dialectical fashion though, this controversy has produced improved understanding. Early exponents, who tended at times to overestimate the efficacy of the transaction approach, have accepted its limitations, and, by the same token, some early critics of transaction analysis have accepted its usefulness. Overall, we have come to recognize that regional integration is a multidimensional phenomenon, much more complex than initially imagined. Transaction approaches are appropriate and useful for investigating some aspects of regional integration; they are less useful for investigating others.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1970 , pp. 732 - 763
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1970

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Footnotes

1

A research associate at the Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University. This study was partially supported by the Social Science Research Council and the Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University.

References

1 For expositions on some of the issues in controversy see: Inglehart, Ronald, “An End to European Integration,” American Political Science Review, 03 1967 (Vol. 59, No. 1), pp. 91–105CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hoffmann, Stanley, “Discord in Community: The North Atlantic Area as a Partial International System,” International Organization, Summer 1963 (Vol. 17, No. 3), pp. 521–549CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Deutsch, Karl W., “Towards Western European Integration: An Interim Assessment,” Journal of International Affairs, 1962 (Vol. 16, No. 1), pp. 89–101Google Scholar; Haas, Ernst B., “The Challenge of Regionalism,” in Hoffmann, Stanley (ed.), Contemporary Theory in International Relations(Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1960), pp. 223–240Google Scholar.

2 Brams, Steven J., “Transaction Flows in the International System,” American Political Science Review, 12 1966 (Vol. 60, No. 4), pp. 880–898CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 For a variety of transaction indices see: Alker, Hayward Jr, and Puchala, Donald J., “Trends in Economic Partnership: The North Atlantic Area, 1928–1963,” in Singer, J. David (ed.), Quantitative International Politics: Insights and Evidence (New York: Free Press, Collicr-Macmillan, 1968), pp.287–316Google Scholar; Russett, Bruce M., Community and Contention: Britain and America in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press, 1963), passimGoogle Scholar; Deutsch, Karl W., and others, France, Germany and the Western Alliance: A Study of Elite Attitudes on European Integration and World Politics (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1967), passimGoogle Scholar; Singer, J. David and Small, Melvin, “The Composition and Status Ordering of the International System, 1815–1940,” World Politics, 01 1966 (Vol. 18, No. 2), pp. 236—282CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Alger, Chadwick F. and Brams, Steven J., “Patterns of Representation in National Capitals and Intergovernmental Organizations,” World Politics, 07 1967 (Vol. 19, No. 4), pp. 646–663CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brzezinski, Zbigniew K., The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1961), pp. 445–479Google Scholar; Michaely, Michael, Concentration in International Trade (Contributions to Economic Analysis No. 28) (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1962), pp. 133–142Google Scholar.

4 While it is clearly impossible to list all sources of transaction flow data in a short footnote, it is worth citing some of the standard sources. There are many sources of international trade data including the United Nations series, Direction of International Trade, and the World Bank series, Direction of Trade, both of which present reliable data in country-table formats especially convenient for transaction analysis. In addition, the OEEC/OECD series, Foreign Trade: Overall Trade by Countries provides reliable trade statistics for the North Atlantic area. For the period between the world wars the League of Nations series, Memorandum on International Trade and Balance of Payments, is an indispensable source. Mulhall's, Michael G., The Dictionary of Statistics (London: George Rutledge & Sons, 1892)Google Scholar provides fragmentary, though interesting, listings of trade statistics for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Furthermore, most modern states publish their own trade figures in national yearbooks or statistical abstracts. The standard source for international mail figures is the Universal Postal Union's series, Statistique des expéditions dans le service international, which began in approximately 1890 and terminated in 1961. Figures on international tourism are generally of questionable reliability because of national inconsistencies in counting and reporting. Nevertheless the United Nations Statistical Yearbook intermittently lists tourist flow statistics. Two works also contribute figures for international tourism during the period between the world wars: Norval, A. J., The Tourist Industry (London: Pitman & Sons, 1936)Google Scholar and Ogilvie, F. W., The Tourist Movement (London: King & Sons, 1933)Google Scholar. The standard source for data concerning international student exchanges is the UNESCO yearbook, Study Abroad. For fragmentary data on student exchanges during the interwar period one might consult the League of Nations, Institute for Intellectual Cooperation series, Bulletin for University Relations. Student flows into and out of the United States are reported in the Annual Report of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. International migration statistics are largely nonexistent except on a very fragmentary and highly unreliable basis. National yearbooks such as the Annuario statistico italiano, the Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, etc., are the best sources, but differences in counting and reporting render international comparisons difficult.

5 For further discussion of dimensionality in the regional integration phenomenon see Nyc, Joseph S., ”Comparative Regional Integration: Concept and Measurement,” International Organization, Autumn 1968 (Vol 22, No. 4), pp. 855–880Google Scholar; Barrera, Mario and Haas, Ernst B., “The Operationalization of Some Variables Related to Regional Integration: A Research Note,” International Organization, Winter 1969 (Vol. 23, No. 1), pp. 150–160CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Puchala, Donald J., “Integration and Disintegration in Franco-German Relations, 1954–1965,” International Organization, Spring 1970 (Vol. 24, No. 2), pp. 183–208CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Deutsch, Karl W., and others, Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 5–8Google Scholar.

7 Etzioni, Amitai, Political Unification: A Comparative Study of Leaders and Forces (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965), pp. 60–66Google Scholar.

8 This definition of “community” is my own though it follows directly from Deutsch's discussion of the concept. Cf. Deutsch, Karl W., Nationalism and Social Communication: An Inquiry into the Foundations of Nationality (1st ed: Cambridge, Mass: Technology Press; New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1953), pp. 60–81, especially pp. 61–67Google Scholar. Deutsch's development of the community concept reflects a synthesis of findings drawn from the history of nationalism, from cultural anthropology, and from the theory of communications.

8 “Supranationality” as used here is a community of peoples of more than one nationality. A “European community” (in the sense that community is used here) would be a supranationality, just as the present-day “Canadian community” is a supranationality to the extent that “Canadianness” overarches or complements the Britishness or Frenchness of Canadian citizens.

10 Deutsch, , Nationalism and Social Communication, p. 75 and passimGoogle Scholar.

11 Ibid., pp. 62–63, 20–21.

12 This formulation is my restatement of the community-communications linkage. In effect, this is what I understand Deutsch to be saying in both Nationalism and Social Communication and in Political Community at the International Level: Problems of Definition and Measurement (Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday & Co., 1954)Google Scholar. It should be noted that the first part of the proposition is not logically closed since saying that the presence of community implies the presence of intense communications is not the same as saying that the presence of intense communications implies the presence of community. The logical inconsistency does not, however, affect Deutsch's argument in Nationalism and Social Communication since in this work he posits a causal relationship between communication and community.

13 Deutsch, , Political Community at the International Level, pp. 3–32Google Scholar.

14 In all, Deutsch lists fourteen operational tests for the existence of international community, with transaction analyses most prominent among these. Cf. Political Community at the International Level, pp. 46–64. What must be underlined in regard to Deutsch's tests of international community is that indicators cannot be confused with the phenomenon indexed. A system of intense transaction flows is not in and of itself a community. A community is a population sharing attributes as defined above. The system of intense transaction flows indicates the presence of a community. Other operational factors also indicate the presence of a community.

15 This latter finding has generated controversy among students of regional integration. (Cf. Haas, in Hoffmann.) The question of preconditions for political amalgamation and the question of causal linkages between community and amalgamation remain without satisfactory answers. On the other hand there is no dispute about Deutsch's main finding that international community is a component of stable international federations.

16 Deutsch, and others, pp. 46–59.

17 Merritt, Richard L. and Puchala, Donald J. (ed.), Western European Perspectives on International Affairs: Public Opinion Studies and Evaluations (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1968), pp. 314–316Google Scholar.

18 Puchala, Donald J., “The Pattern of Contemporary Regional Integration,” International Studies Quarterly, 03 1968 (Vol. 12, No. 1), p. 54CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Merritt and Puchala, p. 413.

20 Ibid., p. 235.

21 International Survey XX–17 (Washington: United States Information Agency, 1965)Google Scholar.

22 Merritt and Puchala, p. 235; International Survey XX–15, International Survey XX–16, International Survey XX–17 (Washington: United States Information Agency, 1963, 1964, 1965)Google Scholar.

23 Cf. Deutsch, , Political Community at the International Level, pp. 49–54Google Scholar.

24 Peak, Helen, “Problems of Objective Observation,” in Festinger, Leon and Katz, Daniel (ed.), Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences (New York: Dryden Press, 1953), pp. 243–299Google Scholar. Here Helen Peak explains index validation by comparison with an external criterion. The analogous procedure in this essay is to establish “community formation in progress” via public opinion indices and then to show transaction patterns coincident with this.

25 It must be noted, in fairness to die reader, that die migration figures offered here are of questionable validity. First, migration data was largely nonexistent for periods of several years during test range. But, more than this, there were often great discrepancies in national reportings between emigrants departing and immigrants arriving (although, in actuality, these figures should be identical). To compound problems even further, definitions of “emigrant,” and “immigrant” varied from country to country.

26 Merritt and Puchala, pp. 236 and 241; also International Survey XX–15, XX–16 and XX–17.

27 Ernst B. Haas, Philippe C. Schmitter, Karl W. Deutsch, Joseph S. Nye, Donald J. Puchala, and others, have all attempted to isolate and explain relationships between community formation and political amalgamation during regional integration. Indefiniteness on the part of most of these authors, and disagreement between them, however, underline the fact that theoretical understanding in this area remains incomplete. Cf. Haas, Ernst B. and Schmitter, Philippe C., “Economics and Differential Patterns of Political Integration: Projections about Unity in Latin America,” International Organization, Autumn 1964 (Vol. 18, No. 4), pp. 705—737CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Karl W. Deutsch, and others, Political Community and the North Atlantic Area; Nye, J. S., “Patterns and Catalysts in Regional Integration,” in Nye, Joseph S. Jr, (ed.), International Regionalism: Readings (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1968), pp. 333–349Google Scholar; Nye, , International Organization, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 855–880CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Puchala, Donald J., International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 38–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Wheare, K. C., Federal Government (London: Oxford University Press [under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs], 1946), passimGoogle Scholar.

29 See, for example, Lindberg, Leon N., “Decision Making and Integration in the European Community,” International Organization, Winter 1965 (Vol. 19, No. 1), pp. 56–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Haas, Ernst B., The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social, and Economic Forces, 1950–1957 (Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1958), passimGoogle Scholar; Lindberg, Leon N., The Political Dynamics of European Economic Integration (Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1963), passimGoogle Scholar.

31 Notable progress in “data-making” concerning political interactions between states has been made under die auspices of the World Event/Interaction Study (WEIS) directed by Charles A. McClelland at the University of Southern California. Cf., for example, McClelland, Charles A., “Access to Berlin: The Quantity and Variety of Events, 1948–1963,” in Singer, , pp. 159–186Google Scholar. Also see McClelland, Charles A., “International Interaction Analysis: Basic Research and Some Practical Applications,” Department of International Relations, University of Southern California, 11 1968Google Scholar. (Mimeographed.) Relatedly, see Richman, Alvin, A Scale of Events along the Conflict-Cooperation Continuum (Research Monograph Series No. 10) (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, 1967)Google Scholar, and Moses, Lincoln E., and others, “Scaling Data on Inter-Nation Action,” Science, 05 26, 1967 (Vol. 156, No. 3778), pp. 1054–1059CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

32 Moreover untested are many hypotheses generated in the functionalist analysis of decisionmaking at the international level at which communications between subnational groups and between them and supranational executives become elements of the dynamics of international amalgamation. While the task of data collection would be enormous, data showing who communicates with whom, when, and about what at the level of subnational groups could be extremely enlightening. It is conceivable that such data could provide reliable indices for “spillover” and its variants for “task expansion” and other functional concepts. For Western Europe the Yearbook of International Organizations lists nongovernmental organizations and thereby gives a hint of the complexity of the regional polity. Beyond this, the Bulletin of the European Economic Community lists meetings, personnel flows, contact with the commission, etc. Still, the job of turning the Bulletin listings into systematic data series is formidable.

33 Since a number of relationships in highly technical organizations were omitted from counting here, the total of 27 overlapping memberships in 1964 actually understates the extensiveness of Franco-German institutional ties.

34 Very little material has thus far been published concerning techniques of “event/interaction analysis.” The interested reader is advised to procure mimeographed materials currently available. See, for example, Charles A. McClelland, “International Interaction Analysis”; Puchala, Donald J., “Recording Diplomatic Interactions,” paper prepared for the Workshop in Interaction Analysis at the annual convention of the American Political Science Association, New York, 09 1969Google Scholar.

35 Operational definitions and coding procedures for this event/interaction analysis are described and discussed in the appendix to Puchala, , International Organization, Vol. 24, No. 21, pp. 203–208Google Scholar.

36 Puchala, “Recording Diplomatic Interaction.”

37 Puchala, Donald J., “Western European Integration: Progress and Prospects” (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, Yale University, 1966)Google Scholar.

38 Teune, Henry, “The Learning of Integrative Habits,” in Jacob, Philip E. and Toscano, James V. (ed.), The Integration of Political Communities (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1964), pp. 247–282Google Scholar.