Regionalism (international relations) Totally Explained

Everything about Regionalism International Relations totally explained

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system (along with multilateralism and unilateralism). It refers to the expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with the creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a geographical region.
The first coherent regional initiatives began in the 1950s and 1960, but they accomplish little, except in Western Europe with the establishment of the European Communities. Some analysts call these initiatives "old regionalism". The European Union can be classified as a result of regionalism. The idea that lies behind this increased regional identity is that as a region becomes more economically integrated, it'll necessarily become politically integrated as well. The European example is especially valid in this light, as the European Union as a political body grew out of more than 40 years of economic integration within Europe. The precursor to the EU, the European Economic Community (EEC) was entirely an economic entity.

Definition

Joseph Nye defined international region "as a limited number of states linked by a geographical relationship and by a degree of mutual interdependence", and (international) regionalism as "the formation of interstate associations or groupings on the basis of regions". This definition, however, was never unanimously accepted, and some analysts noted, for example, that the plethora of regional organizations founded at the initiative of developing countries hadn't fostered the rapid growth of regionalism in the Third World. Other authors, such as Ernst B. Haas, stressed the need to distinguish the notions of regional cooperation, regional system, regional organization and regional integration and regionalism.

History

Initiatives towards a closer regional integration date back to the 1880's. The first coherent regionalism initiatives, however, took place during the 1950s and 1960s. During the late 1990s, however, a renewed interest in regionalism emerged and lead to the rapid emergence of a global system of regions with political and economic parameters.

Origins

It is quite difficult to define when the history of regionalism begins, since there's no single explanation that encompasses the origins and development of the regional idea. Criteria such as the desire by states to "make the best of their regional environment" are regarded by certain analystas as elusive; they prefer to consider the history of regionalism in terms of the rise of modern institutions. If formal organization at the regional as opposed to the international level is to be the yardstick for the onset of regionalism, it's difficult to place its origins much before 1945.

Before 1945

Advocacy of international regionalism was rare in the period between World War I and World War II when the doctrine of collective security was dominant. With the notable exception of the Inter-American System very few regional groupings existed before World War II. The region as a unit of analysis became important not only in the Cold War context, but also as a result of the self-consciousness of regions themselves. Because of the subsequent demands by states that had already made heavy political investments in regional arrangements such as the Inter-American System, the Commonwealth and the Arab League, regionalism made its appearance even in the finalized UN Charter.

European Initiatives

European regionalism took a concrete form during the late 1940s. The treaty establishing the Benelux Customs Union was signed in 1944 by the governments in exile of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg in London, and entered into force in 1947. In 1952, Denmark, Iceland and Norway (Finland joined in 1955) established the Nordic Council, an interparliamentary organization with the goal to forge the regional Nordic co-operation. The Nordic Council's statutes set out in the 1962 Helsinki Agreement, according to which the parties undertake "to seek to preserve and further develop co-operation between our nations in the legal, cultural and financial areas as well as in matters relating to transport and protection of the environment".
Regionalism had already given rise to a floodtide of literature critical of its development or determined to justify it as a necessity for world security. Some critics were arguing that economic unions and common markets distorted the logic of a universal division of labor, and that regional military planning was made both impossible and obsolete. On the other hand, the defenders of the pattern were invoking the necessities of the cold war.The renewed academic interest in regionalism, the emergence of new regional formations and international trade agreements like NAFTA, and the development of a European Single Market demonstrate the upgraded importance of a region-by-region basis political co-ooperation and economic competitiveness.

Regionalization

This is in contrast with regionalization, which is the expression of increased commercial and human transactions in a defined geographical region.

National politics

In national politics (or low politics), regionalism is a political notion which favours regionalisation—a process of dividing a political entity (typically a country) into smaller regions, and transferring power from the central government to the regions. Opposite process is called unitarisation.

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