Deutsch - post-class

One question in particular has been rattling about since our class discussion. The answer is not fully formed, yet, but we'll see where we end up.

Can economic agreements between nations be considered de facto security communities?

Perhaps I’m venturing too far toward the ‘non-Deutschian’ understanding of integration, but I think this merits some thought. In light of the recent APEC summit, I wonder if economic agreements between nations can be considered de facto (pluralistic, to be sure) security communities. There is a measure of Deutschian integration in economic agreements such as NAFTA, APEC and Mercosur. One can reasonably assume that the institutions and practices (and incentives for 'peaceful change') are strong enough to last for a "long" time. There is a mutual understanding that a nation is better off economically engaging other nations peacefully, rather than engaging other nations in war.

For Deutsch, the three essential characteristics of a pluralistic security community (in addition to the primary characteristics found on p.5) are 1)compatibility of major values, 2) capacity for responsiveness and 3) mutual predictability of behavior (66-67). This, to my mind, is where one could say that some economic agreements between nations can be considered de facto, while others can not. ASEAN, NAFTA and Mercosur fulfill (at least loosely) all three "essential" characteristics, and thus would qualify. The WTO and APEC, for example, exhibit the 2nd and 3rd characteristic in some measure, but there is bound to be divergence on "major values." Economic agreements between nations of this type would not, to my mind, qualify as a de facto security communities.

So what would move a security community from de facto to de jure? Would it be an additional military component to the already existing economic component? Would it be a sufficiently "long" time? Separately, would those agreements that don't exhibit a "compatibility of major values" ever be considered de facto security communities?

Looking at the post now it doesn't seem terribly profound, but it got me thinking. Again, perhaps I'm moving away from a Deutschian understanding of integration, but it seems to make sense to me. Thoughts?