Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
Chapter 26:
2 Region
nalism in internatio
i
nal affairss

Re
egionalism has variou
us dimensi ons and ta
akes differe
ent forms aacross the world.

So
ome regional integration processses are more state-led, others more marrket-led.

There is a ba
asic difference betwe
een cooperration arran
ngements aand integration
pro
ocesses, but both approaches m
may be followed with
hin a regionnal system
m

Re
egionalism can be seen as one level in an
n emerging
g system off global
govvernance, but the rellationship b
between re
egionalism
m and multi lateralism is
debated in re
egard to bo
oth econom
mic liberaliz
zation and internationnal security
y.

egionalist experience
e
s in each ccontinent have
h
follow
wed differennt patterns
s, which
Re
refflect their different
d
his
storical and
d cultural contexts.
c

The earlier waves

w
of regionalism arose in a context off postcolonnial restruc
cturing,
eco
onomic pro
otectionism
m, or region
nal security
y concerns
s. A new w
wave of open
reg
gionalism began around 1990 w
with the en
nd of the cold war annd the surge in
glo
obalization.

ope was lau

unched in tthe contex
xt of long
The process of integrattion in postt-war Euro
ut the crea
ation of a fe
ederal systtem, but ultimately thhe choice was
w made
debates abou
in ffavour of a gradual path
p
toward
ds an everr closer union.

Inte
egration ha
as proceed
ded by con
nferring competence for many eeconomic sectors
s
to
sup
pranationa
al institution
ns that can
n take decisions that are bindin g on the member
m
sta
ates.

Ovver time, more

m
politica
ally sensiti ve areas, such
s
as monetary poolicy or inte
ernal and
extternal secu
urity, have also beco me the domain of the
e Europea n Union.

Successive reforms
r
of the EU tre aties have
e sought to maintain aand enhan
nce the
leg
gitimacy an
nd efficienc
cy of a Unio
on that had
d grown, by
b 2007, too twenty-se
even

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.

Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
me
ember state
es, the late
est being th
he coming into force of the Lisbbon Treaty
y at the
end
d of 2009.

nce 2008, the

t econom
mic and fin
nancial cris
sis has sev
verely strai ned the sta
ability of
Sin
the
e eurozone
e and broug
ght to the ssurface dis
sagreemen
nts among governme
ents about
the
e nature off the crisis-managem ent, the direction of macroecon
m
nomic polic
cy, and
the
e role of EU
U institutions in the s upervision
n of nationa
al budgets,, even if a number
of important reforms
r
se
eeking to a ddress the
ese issues were agreeed in the course
c
of
2012.

The creation of regiona

al governan
nce structu
ures is not a contradicction to
glo
obalization but the ex
xpression o
of local atte
empts to accommodaate and res
spond to
its challengess.

De
espite the observation
o
n of a glob al trend towards grea
ater regionnalism, imp
portant
diffferences re
emain betw
ween the d
depth and the
t scope of regionall institution
ns that
devvelop in diffferent parrts of the g lobe.

Re
egional coo
operation and
a integra
ation are no
ot linear prrocesses, bbut depend
d on the
varrying contingencies that
t
provide
e opportun
nities and limits in difffferent regional
con
ntexts.

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.