世界貿易組織的成立以及自由貿易協定(Free Trade Agreement)的締結，促成了全球貿易的自由化以及國際產業供應鏈的重整。然而，伴隨國際貿易自由化而產生的國際財富分配不均，以及發展中國家未能因貿易自由化獲益的問題，亦導致發展中國家和已開發國家之齟齬日漸加深。開發中國家因此擔憂國際貿易的自由化不但無法幫助其實現脫貧的目標，更可能如國際政治經濟學依賴理論(dependency theory)所描述，導致發展中國家成為已開發國家經濟成長的墊腳石。 ..

The World Trade Organization and proliferating free trade agreements (FTAs) have contributed to the liberalization of global trade and the shift of the international supply chain. Nevertheless, trade liberalization has also led to the conflict between developing nations and developed nations and has increased the former’s concerns about the negative impact of trade on development. Premised on the dependency theory, developing nations contend that increasing free trade could worsen their dependency on the developed marke..

1951 年歐洲首次在沒有流血戰爭的狀態中開始進行和平統合，此有別於歐洲歷史紛亂與戰爭的常態。從戰後、歐洲開始統合、歷經德國統一及蘇聯共產主義集團瓦解兩大地緣政治鉅變，到 2007 年歐盟最近一次擴大至今， 統合過程中，歐洲國家之間及其與美國及俄羅斯(蘇聯)的權力互動關係，以及各強權與歐洲地理空間的互動關係對歐洲統合產生重大的影響與不同的地緣政治意涵。 第二次世界大戰後，歐洲國家處於美蘇對峙複雜的權力互動關係中，資源統合、採取共同立場(..

The integration of Europe began in 1951. Within the process of integration, there were three dimensions of power interactions: the interaction among European states, the interaction among America, Russia (Soviet Union), and European states, and the interaction between great powers and the European geographical space. From the beginning of the European integration, the unification of Germany and the collapse of the Russian communist bloc, and to the latest expansion of EU, the geopolitical changes had important impacts and sig..