On The Process Of Integration Of The Arab Maghreb Union And Prospects

Arab Maghreb Union (UMA; Union du Maghreb Arabe) is one of the three main regional organizations in the Middle East presently. The core of UMA study is its integration. The development of UMA's integration doesn't go well since its foundation in 1989. Especially since 1995, the summit meeting stopped being held and the integration got in trouble. It made many scholars take a pessimistic view of the future of UMA's integration, so its study nearly became stagnant. The paper does study in UMA's integration systematically. It deeply analyzes the foundation conditions, backgrounds and motivations from the angle of regionalism and regional organizations study; concludes the development and features of diplomatic and economic integration; studies the resistances in the way to integration. As a result, it finds the obstacles in politics, economy and security, especially the question of Western Sahara which influences the relationship between Algeria and Morocco, determine the development of UMA's integration, then predicts the future of its integration. At last, the paper suggests UMA should learn from EU and ASEAN according to its own characteristics. UMA choosing integration not only meets the requirements for globalization, but also conforms to the interests of the region and its people. From the angle of integration, choosing UMA as the research object is an innovation of this paper, as well as an exploration of UMA's comprehensive study.