Regionalism

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• Regions are “a group of countries located in the same geographically
specified area” or an “amalgamation of two regions or a combination
of more than two regions.”
• Regionalism is a political process characterized by economic policy
cooperation and coordination among countries.
• Countries form regional associations for several reasons. One is for
military defense. The most famous defense grouping is the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), created by Western European
countries and the United States during the Cold War.

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• Countries also form regional organizations to pool their resources, get
better returns for their exports, as well as expand their leverage
against trading partners.
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was
established in 1966 to regulate the production and sale of oil. The
initial members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

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• There are countries that regional blocs to protect their independence
from the pressures of superpower politics. Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia,
India, and Yugoslavia created the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in
1961.
• The NAM was created to pursue world peace and international
cooperation, human rights, national sovereignty, non-intervention,
and peaceful conflict resolution.

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• Economic crisis also compels countries to come together. The Asian
Financial Crisis, precipitated by the collapse of the Thai economy,
made the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) more
“unified and coordinated.”

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• Communities also engage in regional organizing. This “new
regionalism” varies in form; they can be they can be tiny associations
with few actors focused on a single issue or large continental
organizations that address many common issues.
• Organizations representing this “new regionalism” likewise rely on the
power of individuals, non-governmental organizations or associations
to address goals. New regionalists include the Regional Interfaith
Youth Networks (created by young Christians in Asia, Africa, the
Americas, and the Caribbean) and the Migrant Forum in Asia.

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• New regionalism differs significantly from traditional state-to-state
regionalism when it comes to identifying problems. For example,
states treat poverty as an issue that can be resolved by economic
policies whereas the NGO Global Forum sees poverty as a reflection
of flawed economic development.
• Another challenge for new regionalism is the discord that may
emerge among them. For example, disagreements can surface over
issues like religion and gender. Also, while civil society groups are
able to dialogue with governments, governments may not be
receptive to civil society groups.

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• Today, regionalism faces multiple challenges, the most serious of
which is the resurgence of militant nationalism and populism.
• Perhaps the most crisis-ridden regional organization of today is the
European Union. Anti-immigrant sentiment and a populist campaign
led the United Kingdom to exit the European Union.

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• ASEAN members continue to disagree over the extent to which
members should sacrifice their sovereignty for the sake of regional
stability.
• ASEAN’s link with Northeast Asia has also been problematic. Recently,
ASEAN countries also disagreed over how to relate to China, with the
Philippines unable to get other member states to support its
condemnation of China’s occupation of the West Philippine Sea.
Cambodia and Laos favored diplomacy over confrontation, but the
two member states had also been receiving increased economic aid
and investment from China.

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• A final challenge to regionalism pertains to differing visions of what
regionalism should be for.
• Western governments may see regional organizations not simply as
economic formations but also as instruments of political
democratization.
• Non-Western and developing societies may have different views
regarding globalization, development, and democracy.

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