OUR DEFINITION OF INTEGRATION
In the most general sense, integration refers to the unification of a number of hitherto independent units into a larger whole. Or even simpler, integration means forming parts into a whole.
The degree of integration is very much related to the willingness and commitment of independend sovereign states to share their sovereignty.
Integration, as such, is then a process, describing the degree of unity in a system. A clear example of integration is the formation of a state, the merging of previously independent units into a recognisable political entity, capable of independent action. International organisations (United Nations, EU, et cetera) and international regimes (such as the international environmental regimes) also represent forms of integration, however, their achieved degree of "unity" or coherence is as yet not as high as the degree of unity in states.
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