Intergovernmentalism in the context of "Union of South American Nations"

A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issues, such as defence, foreign relations, internal trade or currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all its members. Confederalism represents a main form of intergovernmentalism, defined as any form of interaction around states that takes place on the basis of sovereign independence or government.

The nature of the relationship among the member states constituting a confederation varies considerably. Likewise, the relationship between the member states and the general government and their distribution of powers varies. Some looser confederations are similar to international organisations while other confederations with stricter rules may resemble federal systems.These elements of such confederations, the international organization and federalist perspective, has been combined as supranational unions.

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF; French: Forum des îles du Pacifique; Fijian: Bose ni Yatu Pasifika; Māori: Te Huinga Moutere o Te Moananui-a-Kiwa; Samoan: Fono a Atumotu o le Pasefika; Tok Pisin: Pasifik Ailan Forum; Tongan: Fakataha 'a e Ngaahi 'Otu Motu Pasifiki) is an inter-governmental organisation which aims to enhance cooperation among countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum (SPF), and changed its name in 1999 to "Pacific Islands Forum", so as to be more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership of both north and south Pacific island countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

The mission of the Pacific Islands Forum is "to work in support of Forum member governments, to enhance the economic and social well-being of the people of the South Pacific by fostering cooperation between governments and between international agencies, and by representing the interests of Forum members in ways agreed by the Forum". Its decisions are implemented by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), which grew out of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC). As well as its role in harmonising regional positions on various political and policy issues, the Forum Secretariat has technical programmes in economic development, transport and trade. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General is the permanent Chairman of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP).

An international parliament or world parliament or supranational legislature is a theoretical or hypothetical concept that envisions a legislative body with representatives from different countries or sovereign entities, similar to a parliament but at international level for global governance, thus establishing a world government. It's a hybrid system of intergovernmentalism and supranationalism which could be based on a predecessor inter-parliamentary institution or a newly established organization-level legislature.

The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is organized around shared values of pluralism, liberal democracy, and representative government. G7 members are major IMF advanced economies.

Originating from an ad hoc gathering of finance ministers in 1973, the G7 has since become a formal, high-profile venue for discussing and coordinating solutions to major global issues, especially in the areas of trade, security, economics, and climate change. Each member's head of government or state, along with the EU's Commission president and European Council president, meet annually at the G7 Summit; other high-ranking officials of the G7 and the EU meet throughout the year. Representatives of other states and international organizations are often invited as guests, with Russia having been a formal member (as part of the G8) from 1997 until its expulsion in 2014.

There is ongoing discussion about the extent to which the European Union (EU) has already turned from a confederation (a union of sovereign states) into a federation (a single federal state with a central government, consisting of a number of partially self-governing federated states) over the course of decades, and more importantly, to what degree it should continue to evolve in a federalist direction. As of June 2024, the EU has no formal plans to become a federation.

Since the 1950s, European integration has seen the development of a supranational system of governance, as its institutions move further from the concept of simple intergovernmentalism and more towards a federalised system. However, with the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, new intergovernmental elements have been introduced alongside the more federal systems, making it more difficult to define the EU. The European Union, which operates through a hybrid system – thus often described as sui generis – of intergovernmentalism and supranationalism, is not officially a federation or even a confederation, although many contemporary scholars of federalism view it as a federal system.

Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving broader socio-political and security objectives, as defined by national governments. Regional integration has been organized either via supranational institutional structures or through intergovernmental decision-making, or a combination of both.

Past efforts at regional integration have often focused on removing barriers to free trade in the region, increasing the free movement of people, labour, goods, and capital across national borders, reducing the possibility of regional armed conflict (for example, through Confidence and Security-Building Measures), and adopting cohesive regional stances on policy issues, such as the environment, climate change and migration.