Summary
Contents
Key Concepts in Governance provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays. Each entry features a snapshot definition of the concept, a contextualization of the concept, an overview of relevant debates, and a guide to further reading. The book also includes a substantial introductory chapter which gives an overview of governance studies as a whole, orientating and guiding the reader around the issues that the concepts address.
Regionalism
Regionalism
Definition
Regionalism means somewhat different things in the contexts of domestic and international politics. Within a state, regionalism refers to a process in which sub-state actors become increasingly powerful and independent of the state: power devolves from the central state to regional governments within it. Sub-state regionalism thus overlaps somewhat with the processes discussed under the entry in this book on decentralization. This entry, in contrast, will consider regionalism in international politics. At the international level, regionalism refers to transnational cooperation to achieve a common goal or resolve a shared problem.
Sometimes regionalism is defined more narrowly as transnational cooperation among states rather than other actors. This narrower definition implies a distinction between regionalism and the related process of regionalization. Regionalism is a top-down process in ...