Regionalism
Structure and Objectives of
the Lecture
• Section One: Definitions of region. Draw
distinction between regionalisation and
regionalism.
• Section Two: Look at pre-history or
regionalism, the ‘old regionalism’ (EU)
and post-war third world regionalism
• Section Three: Introduction to the new
wave of regionalism. The renaissance
of EU project and new third regionalism
• Section Four: Contemporary EU
• Section Five: Contemporary Asia
• Section Six: Contemporary Africa
• Section Seven: Contemporary
America’s
• Section Eight (Conclusions): Draw out
the main features of contemporary
regionalism and draw in relevance of
Amin arguments
Section One
• How do we define the region?
• In a sense it has a physical meaning but
the concrete form that region takes is
socially determined
• Turkey and Europe
• APEC (Half the World!)
• Australia and Asia
• To say socially constructed leaves open
the question of what primarily forces in
that construction
• Constructivists/ Post-Modernists focus
on culture, the construction of identity
etc.
• I would suggest that Economic logics
(and geo-politics) are the master.
• Look at Poland!
• Look at Europe and Africa!
• Little sense of collective European
identity yet success!
• In a sense arguing that geo-politics and
economic regionalisation are key to
success of political regionalism
• What mean by economic regionalisation
is the extent to which a regional
economy actually exists or the extent
material basis for the development of
economic actually exists
• Relationship between regionalisation
and regionalism is complex
• Regionalisation without formal political
co-operation is possible (Labour
Movements across US border)
• Taiwan and China
• However, in most regionalisation involve
some level of conscious political
planning
• ‘Asia in Japan’s Embrace’
• Asian Development Bank, Overseas
development aid.
• So there is a clear relationship between the
two
• Mainstream regionalism in the absence of
viable basis for regionalisation is doomed
Section Two
Regional Free Trade Agreements in the C19th
Inter-War Period (Seen as hostile blocs). What
is regionalism, how do we define regulation
and what is simple imperialism? Some
definitions seem ridiculous (Mansfield and
Milner)
Liberal reservations about regionalism stem
from experiences of this era
• EU (in a sense founded in 1951) ECSC
(France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium,
Luxembourg and Netherlands)
• Monnet and Schuman
• Strongly supported by US
• Monnet and Schuman ultimately always
had a Federalist vision
• There is no real peace in Europe, if the states
are reconstituted on a basis of national
sovereignty. (...) They must have larger
markets. Their prosperity is impossible,
unless the States of Europe form themselves
in a European Federation." — Jean Monnet
• There is no future for the people of Europe
other than in union." — Jean Monnet
"Building Union among people not cooperation
between states"
• Monnet was a economic planner for
much of his career.
• Type of Federal Europe Monnet desired
different from contemporary project.
Construction of semi-open Social
Market Europe
• At same time various regional groups formed
in other areas of he world
• Some dominated by security in context of
cold war (ASEAN 1967+ SADC 1980)
• Many third world regional groupings sought to
limit engagement with world economy
• Regionalism way asserting yourself against
imperialists
• Some formal federalist aspirations
• Regionalism was rendered relatively
ineffective by dominance on statebuilding
• Also in so far based on free trade
reproduce core-periphery relations
Section Four (EU)
• Contemporary EU project
unambiguously neo-liberal (expect
agriculture)
• Euro (regime of monetary control it
establishes), restrictions on industrial
policy and singular focus on competition
and freedom for capital
• Accounting standards, banking etc.
• Also if we study Commission
documents it clear Europe will not a
fortress but a mechanism through which
promote the integration of European
capital into global circuits of
accumulation
• EU becomes a mechanism to advance
domestic reform
Section Five (East Asia)
• Regionalisation more advanced than
regionalism
• Factors limiting regionalism: Japan,
incomplete state building, the cold war
and key state’s developmentalism
• Fairly standard to argue that
regionalism was irreverent in Asia up
until fairly recently
• Ongoing talks about Korea-Japan free trade
area
• APEC- loose non-binding agenda setting
collective (parallels with OECD, vast range of
states from China, Vietnam to America). Very
liberal aspirations (Bogor Goals of, "free and
open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific
by 2010 for developed economies and 2020
for developing economies.")
• ASEAN- Free trade and Investment
facilitation area (evolving out of anticommunism)
• Through the swift realization of an ASEAN
Free Trade Area and an ASEAN Investment
Area, ASEAN should continue to be an
attractive place of investment for Japanese
companies (from official document).
Section Six (Americas)
• NAFTA (Canada, US and Mexico)
• Small environmental side deal, no real social
element.
• Asymmetric impact (As Lester Thurow
pointed out, a worst case scenario would
entail the loss of 480,000 American jobs over
the next five years; the best case would see
the addition of 170,000 jobs)
• Much greater impact on Mexico and sections
of the Canadian state.
• Other regional organisation developing in
relation to NAFTA on content
• Mercosor (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay,
Venezuela, and Paraguay)
• Mercosor “facilitate and further domestic
liberalisation and deregulation processes by
putting in place reinforcing mechanisms at a
regional level.”
• Although it has had disagreements with US
• Hugo Chivas ‘decontaminate it of
neoliberalism’
• Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia trying to launch
‘Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas’
• Andean Community of Nations (Bolivia,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)- institutionalised,
formal social dimension
• Colombia and Peru have FTA with the US
Section Seven (Africa)
• New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD)- Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal
and South Africa. 2001
• African Union - 2001 out of African Economic
Community (AEC) and the Organisation of
African Unity (OAU)
• Array of Sub regional groupings
• Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD) Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA) East African
Community (EAC) Economic Community of
Central African States (ECCAS/CEEAC))
• Economic and Monetary Community of
Central Africa (CEMAC) Economic
Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) West African Economic and
Monetary Union (UEMOA)
• West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)
• Southern African Development Community
(SADC, now dominated by SA) Southern
African Customs Union (SACU) Arab
Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA)
• Supported by World Bank. PostConditionality
• Intellectual leader South Africa (African
Renaissance)
• Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s finance
minister asserted, ‘there is a new resilience
and a new will to succeed in the African
continent. We in South Africa have called it a
renaissance, a new vision of political and
economic renewal. It takes the global
competitive marketplace as point of
departure’
• Problems in terms quality of competent
parts
• Also Ingraining structural inequalities
• The proliferation of projects can be
taken as a sign of weakness
• Also absurd lack of realism (2023)
Conclusions
• Open (empirical) question as to whether
‘social element included in particular
projects
• Liberal obsession with trade
unwarranted
• Backward Linkages: Mainly GCC.
• There is no inherent reason why
regionalism needs to take the form it
does
• Amin and Wider approach- aspirations.