Trade blocs and world power
Accounts of world politics after 1945 usually centre on two superpowers. Yet many decisions about prices, jobs and borders have been taken by groups of neighbouring states acting together. These groups are trade blocs, and the strongest of them can bargain with the superpowers instead of simply following them.
A group of countries that agree to reduce or remove barriers to trade among themselves, often while treating outsiders differently.
States have always made agreements with each other, from wartime alliances to royal marriages arranged between ruling families. Regions tend to swing between phases of openness, when they want to trade widely, and phases of closing their doors. A bloc can make its members richer. It can also create friction, either with countries left outside or among the members themselves.
The map shows how much of the world now sits inside a bloc. The blocs differ greatly in how tightly they bind their members. The European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) sit near opposite ends of that range, which makes them a useful pair for judging whether regional organizations can act as centres of power in their own right.
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