FamilyID=Office_ArchiveTorn

MODULE 5

A World of Regions
Maron Joshua O. Albangco
College of Arts and Sciences
Countries, Regions,
and Globalization

• Governments, associations, societies, and groups form regional

organizations and/or networks as a way of coping with the new
challenges of globalization.
• Regionalism is often seen as a political and economic
phenomenon, but it must be treated as a process and as an
“emergent, socially constituted phenomenon.”
• Regions are a “group of countries located in the same
geographically specified area” or are “an amalgamation of two
regions (or) a combination of more than two regions organized
to regulate and oversee flows and policy choices.”
Regionalization, Regionalism and
Globalization
Regionalization
• Regional concentration of economic flows.
• Regionalization is the “growth of societal
integration within a region and to the often
undirected processes of social and economic
interaction” (Hurrel, 1995).
• Since the core players are non-governmental
actors—firms or individuals, thus
regionalization can be called as a spontaneous,
bottom-up process (Hoshiro, n.d.).
Regionalism
• A political process characterized by economic
policy cooperation and coordination among
countries.
• Pertains to the process of intergovernmental
collaboration between two or more states.
• Since its main participants are governments, it
can be expressed as an artificial, top-down
process (Hoshiro, n.d.).
Regionalization, Regionalism
and Globalization

Military defense (ex. North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO)

To pool their resources (ex. Organization of Petroleum Exporting

Countries or OPEC)

To protect their independence from the pressures of superpower politics (ex. Non-Aligned
Movement or NAM)

Economic crisis compels countries to come together (ex. The ASEAN

experience of 1997 Asian Financial Crisis)
New Regionalism
or Non-state
Regionalism

• It is not only states that agree to work

together in the name of a single cause (or
causes). Communities also engage in
regional organizing.
• This “new regionalism” varies in form;
they can be “tiny associations that
include no more than a few actors and
focus on a single issue, or huge
continental unions that address multitude
of common problems from territorial
defense to food security.”
New Regionalism
or Non-state
Regionalism
• Organizations representing this “new
regionalism” likewise rely on the
power of individuals, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs),
and associations to link up with one
another in pursuit of a particular goal
(or goals).
• Their strategies and tactics likewise
vary. Some organizations partner with
governments to initiate social change.
Other regional organizations dedicate
themselves to specialized causes.
• New regionalism differs significantly
from traditional state-to-state
regionalism when it comes to
identifying problems.
Challenges to
New Regionalism

• These organizations’ primary power

lies in the moral standing and their
ability to combine lobbying with
pressure politics.
• Another challenge for new regionalists
is the discord or disharmony that may
emerge among them.
• While civil society groups are able to
dialogue with governments, the latter
may not be welcoming to this new
trend and set up one obstacle after
another.
 • The most serious challenge is the resurgence of militant
nationalism and populism.
Contemporary • A final challenge pertains to differing visions of what
regionalism should be for.
Challenges to • Western governments may see regional organizations not simply

Regionalism as economic formations but also as instruments of political

democratization. Non-Western and developing societies,
however, may have a different view regarding globalization,
development, and democracy.