(Harris 1990). From the 1960s, regionalization has come into the picture as a significant dynamic; the European Union is the leading example. Over time, state authority has been leaking upwards in international and supranational forms of pooling of sovereignty, a process that is also referred to as the internationalization of states and leaking downwards. If the latter happens in a controlled fashion, it is referred to as decentralization; if it happens in an uncontrolled fashion it is termed ethnic or regional conflict, resulting in fragmentation and possibly state disintegration and collapse. The internationalization of the state refers to the blurring of the boundaries between international and domestic politics