Regionalism

Regions, Regionalism, and Regionalization

The concept of a region evolved historically to mean the space between the national and the local within a particular state. This meaning may be captured by the term microregion, or subnational region. The concept may also be used to refer to macroregions (the so-called world or international regions), which are larger territorial units, as opposed to nonterritorial units or subsystems. They exist between the state level and the global system level. The macroregion has been the most common object of analysis in international relations, while microregions have more commonly been considered in the study of domestic politics.

A conventional definition of a macroregion, originally suggested by Joseph Nye, is a limited number of states linked together by a geographical relationship and by a degree of mutual interdependence. Historically, a plethora of opinions have been advanced regarding which mutual interdependencies matter the most: economic, political, and social interrelationships or historical, cultural, and ethnic bonds. It has been argued that the definitions of what constitutes a region may vary according to the particular issue under investigation. This may lead to the identification of overlapping types of regions, such as economic regions, security regions, environmental regions, and cultural regions.

The overwhelming majority of studies in the field of political science and international relations have focused on predefined regions in the form of state-led and interstate regional organizations and frameworks. The AU, ASEAN, EU, SADC, and ECOWAS are examples. The argument that the composition of regions should not be limited to regional intergovernmental organizations has been stressed in recent constructivist and poststructuralist scholarship. From this perspective, all regions are deemed to be socially constructed and hence politically contested. Emphasis is placed on how political actors perceive and interpret the idea of a region and notions of “regionness.” According to this school of thought, there are no “natural” regions; all regions are (at least potentially) heterogeneous, with unclear territorial margins. The focus is often on the processes of region building and regionalization, which implies that the distinction between regionalism and regionalization is emphasized.

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