North America is guardedly defined as everything in the Western Hemisphere north of the Panama-Colombia border, gathering in the islands of the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and extending northwestward to the western tip of Alaska and northeastward to Greenland. Perhaps Denmark would prefer Greenland to be considered part of Europe. South America sometimes lays claim to the closelying Netherlands Antilles as well as to Trinidad and Tobago. For the purposes of North American integration, Hawaii is pulled eastward as part of the United (but not connected) States, but is it really part of Asia?

Integration comes in several forms, primarily economic, political, and social. The United States may be socially and economically integrated, but as long as it remains a federation of states with limited federal ...