PLEASE NOTE this is a 2013 reading list—the precise content may change in future years.
Term 1, Week 2
International Politics theory and the study of regions
In this second session we examine in overview how regions have been studied in the mainstream IR
and IPE theories. The purpose is to provide students with some understanding of how the study of
regions fits with the broad paradigms/perspectives of Realism, Liberalism, Marxism and
Constructivism. This will equip IPEA students with the main theories that they will encounter in other
modules; demonstrate to students in other degree programmes how their theoretical knowledge
can be made to work in the Pacific-Asia region; and in general provide a means of trying to
comprehend the complex dynamics of the Pacific-Asia region.

What is a theory and why is it useful?

How do each of the main paradigms explain the growth of regionalism globally and in
Pacific-Asia?

What are the gaps and silences of the various theories when it comes to explaining PacificAsia regionalism?
Core reading
Hurrell, Andrew, ‘Regionalism in theoretical perspective’, in Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell
(eds) Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order, Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 1995, pp. 37-73. [Online Library E-Resource]
Michael Smith and David Jones, 'Constructing Communities: the Curious Case of East Asian
Regionalism' Review of International Studies (2007) vol.33 pp.165-186
Hettne, Bjorn and Soderbaum, Frederik, ‘Theorising the rise of regionness’, New Political Economy,
vol. 5, no. 3, 2000, pp. 457-473.
Payne, Tony and Gamble, Andrew, ‘Introduction: the political economy of regionalism and World
Order’, in Andrew Gamble and Anthony Payne (eds.) Regionalism and World Order, London,
Macmillan, 1996, pp.1-20. [Online Library E-Resource]
Highly Recommended Readings
Hurrell, Andrew, 'One World? Many Worlds? The Place of Regions in the Study of International
Society' International Affairs 2007 83(1) pp.127-146
Hurrell, Andrew, ‘Explaining the resurgence of regionalism in world politics’, Review of International
Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, October 1995, 331-358.
Hettne, Bjorn and Soderbaum, Frederik, ‘Theorising the rise of regionness’, in Shaun Breslin,
Christopher W. Hughes, Nicola Philips and Ben Rosamond (eds.) New Regionalisms in the Global
Political Economy: Theories and Cases, London, Routledge, 2002, pp. 33-47.
Supplementary reading
Mansfield, Edward D. and Milner, Helen V., ‘The political economy of regionalism: an overview’, in
Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner (eds.) The Political Economy of Regionalism, New York,
Columbia University Press, 1997, pp. 1-19
Breslin, Shaun, Higgott, Richard and Rosamond, Ben, ‘Regions in comparative perspective’, in Shaun
Breslin, Christopher W. Hughes, Nicola Philips and Ben Rosamond (eds.) New Regionalisms in the
Global Political Economy: Theories and Cases, London, Routledge, 2002, pp. 1-19.
Breslin, Shaun, ‘Theorising East Asian regionalism(s): new regionalism and Asia’s future(s), in Melissa
Curley and Nicholas Thomas (eds.) Advancing East Asian Regionalism, London, Routledge, 2007, pp.
26-51.
Cooper, Andrew, Hughes, Christopher W., and de Lombaerde, Philippe (eds.) Regionalisation and
Global Governance: The Taming of Globalisation?, London, Routledge, 2008.
Farrell, Mary, Hettne, Bjorn and Langenhove, Luk Van, The Global Politics of Regionalims: Theory and
Practice, London, Pluto Press, 2005.
Katzenstein, Peter J., A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the American Imperium, Ithaca, New
York, 2005.
Mattli, Walter, The Logic of Regional Integration: Europe and Beyond, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1999.
Ravenhill, John, ‘Regionalism’, in John Ravenhill (ed.) Global Political Economy, Oxford, Oxford
University Press, pp. 172-210.
Bjorn Hettne, Andra Inotai, and Osvaldo Sunkel (eds.) Globalism and the New Regionalism,
Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1999, Chapters 1-5, pp. 1-154.
Hout, Wil, ‘Theories of International Relations and the New Regionalism’, in Jean Grugel and Wil
Hout (eds.) Regionalism Across the North-South Divide, pp. 14-28.
Higgott, Richard, ‘De Facto and De Jure regionalism: the double discourse of regionalism in the Asia
Pacific’, Global Society, vol. 2, no. 2, 1997, pp. 165-84.