Worldwide versus Regional Integration: Is there an Optimum Size of the Integrated Area?

A skilful programme committee chooses for its conference papers titles that deceive in their simplicity but that on close inspection turn out not to be simple at all and that raise more questions than an author can hope to answer in the 5000 words allotted him. They thus lay the groundwork for future research and for future conferences. Certainly the title of this paper is deceptively simple, yet it cloaks a problem that goes to the heart of political theory: how should human beings organise their collective endeavours, especially those that require governmental action, so as to achieve best their diverse and often conflicting objectives?