Department of Social Sciences

CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY

GEC 13 : THE CONTEMPORARYWORLD

(1 ST SEMESTER, A.Y. 2020-2021)
JORNIE LUMINTAO
Instructor

This material has made available to you for your personal use only in this
course. Please ask permission from your instructor/professor for any other use
or distribution.

Citation:
Abinales, P. & Claudio, L. (2018). The Contemporary World. C & E
Publishing, Inc.

Contact information: +63975-918-0257/ f.jorniejr.lumintao@cmu.edu.ph

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 Lesson 5: A World of Regions
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Differentiate between regionalization and globalization;
2. Explain how regions are formed and kept together;
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages or regionalism; and,
4. Identify the factors leading to a greater integration of the Asian Region.

IMPORTANT TERMS:

Regionalism Regionalization ASEAN NATO OPEC

Non-state regionalism New Regionalism

Study Guide Questions:

1. What is the difference between regionalism and regionalization?

2. Why do countries form regional associations? What are the reasons?
3. What is a non-state regionalism? Who are the non-state actors?
4. What are the contemporary challenges to regionalism?

Required Reading(s):

Chapter 5: A World of Regions

Pages 50 – 59 Abinales, P. & Claudio, L. (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E
Publishing, Inc
Chapter 10: Regional Organizations: EU, AU, and ASEAN
Pages 245 – 266
Ian Hurd – International Organizations, Politics, Law, Practice

Videos:

A world of Region, Regionalism and Non-State Regionalism

Channel: CharleYsulan
Link: https://youtu.be/0VbPVoTZbU8

Recorded Lecture: To be posted in Google Classroom.

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Key Points:
1. Governments, associations, societies, and groups form regional organizations and/or
networks as a way of coping with the challenges of globalization.
2. While regionalism is often seen as a political and economic phenomenon, the term actually
encompasses broader areas such as identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability and
health.
3. Regionalism is a process and must be treated as an “emergent, socially constituted
phenomenon.
 It means that regions are not natural or given; rather, they are constructed and
defined by policymakers, economic actors, and even social movements.
4. This lesson will look at regions as political entities and examine what brings them together
as they interlock with globalization.

Countries, Regions, and Globalization

Economic and political definitions of regions vary, but there are certain basic features.
-Edward D. Manshield & Helen V. Milner

1. Regions are “group of countries located in the same geographically specified area”
and or amalgamation of two regions or a combination of more than two regions.”
 They are organized to regulate and “oversee flows and policy
choices.”
2. Regionalization and regionalism are different.
 Regionalization – “regional concentration of economic flows”
 Regionalism – “a political process characterized by economic policy
cooperation and coordination among countries.

3. Countries respond economically and politically to globalization in various ways, and

some countries form regional associations for several reasons.
a. For military defense
o NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) – formed between
Cold War between US and several western European
countries. This is to protect Europe against the threat of the
Soviet Union.
o Warsaw Pact – consisting of the Eastern European countries
under Soviet domination.
b. Countries form regional organizations to pool their resources and get
better returns for their exports, as well as expand their leverage
against trading partners.
o OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) –
established in 1960 by Iran, Irag, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and
Venezuela to regulate the production and sale of oil.
c. They form regional blocs to protect their independence from the
pressures of superpower politics.
o NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) – formed in 1961 by
presidents of Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia and
Yugoslavia in the pursue of world peace and international
cooperation, human rights, national sovereignty, racial and
national equality, non-intervention, and peaceful and
conflict resolution.
d. Economic crisis compels countries to come together.
o ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) – along with
China, Japan, and South Korea agreed to establish an
emergency fund to anticipate a crisis that Asian economies
stabilized.

Non-State Regionalism
It is not only states that agree to work together in the name of a single cause or causes, but
communities also engage in regional organizing. They are called “New Regionalism.”

New Regionalism
a. It 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 a
multitude of common problems from territorials defense to food security.”
b. These organizations 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).
c. They are being identified with reformists who share the same “values, norms,
institutions, and system that exist outside of the traditional, established mainstream
institutions and systems.”

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The strategies and tactics of this New Regionalism to influence states in a region
1. Some organizations partner with governments to initiate social change.
 Those who worked with governments participate in “institutional mechanisms that
afford some civil society groups voice and influence in technocratic policy-making
processes.
 Example:
a. ASEAN – issued its Human Rights Declaration in 2009 as official declaration to
pressure the governments to pass laws and regulations that protect and promote
human rights, since they are aware that democratic rights are limited in many
member countries.
- The organization of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights was in
part the result of non-government organizations and civil society groups
pushing to “prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, and
promote democracy and human rights throughout the region.
2. Other regional organizations dedicate themselves to specialized causes.
Example:
a. Activists across Central and South America established the rainforests in Brazil, Guyana,
Panama, and Peru.
b. Young Christians across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, the Americans, and the Caribbean
formed Regional Interfaith Youth Networks to promote “conflict prevention, resolution,
peace education, and sustainable development.”
c. The Migrant Forum in Asia is another regional network of NGOs and trade unions
“committed to protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of migrant workers.”

Challenges to Regionalism
1. Most of this “New Regionalisms” are poorly financed that makes their impact in global politics
is limited.
2. The discord that may emerge among this “New Regionalism” just like the disagreements that
surfaced over issues like gender and religion, with pro-choice NGOs breaking from religious
civil society groups that side with the Church, Muslim imams, or governments opposed to
reproductive rights and other pro-women policies.
3. The most serious contemporary challenge to regionalism is the resurgence of militant
nationalism and populism.
 The relationship of US (the alliance’s core member) to NATO has become
problematic after Donald Trump demonized the organization as simply leeching off
American military power without giving anything in return.
 The most crisis-ridden regional organization of today is the European Union when
the anti-immigrant sentiment and populist campaign against Europe have already led
to the United Kingdom voting to leave European Union in a move the media has
termed the “Brexit.”
4. ASEAN members continue to disagree over the extent to which member countries should
sacrifice their sovereignty for the sake of regional stability.
 The association’s link with East Asia has also been problematic since they disagreed
over how to relate to China, with the Philippines unable to get the other countries to
support its condemnation of China’s occupation of the West Philippine Sea.
 When some formerly authoritarian countries democratized, this “participatory
regionalism” clashed with ASEAN’s policy of non-interference, as civil society groups
in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand demanded that the other countries
democratized adopt a more open attitude towards foreign criticism.
5. A final challenge pertains to differing visions of what regionalism should be for:
a. Western governments may see regional organizations not simply as economic formations
but also as instruments of political democratization.
b. Non-Western and developing societies, however, may have different view regarding
globalization.
 Singapore, China and Russia see democracy as an obstacle to the
implementation and deepening of economic globalization because constant public
inquiry about economic projects and lengthy debate slow down implementation
or lead to unclear outcomes.
Conclusion
1. Official regional associations now cover vast swaths of the world.
 The population of the countries that joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Council
(APEC) alone comprised 37 percent of world’s population in 2007.
2. In the same way the countries will find it difficult to reject all forms of global economic
integration, it will also be hard for them to turn their backs on their regions.
 For example, even is UK leaves EU it must continue to trade with its immediate
neighbors and will, therefore, be forced to implement EU rules.
3. The future of regionalism will be contingent on the immense changes in global politics that will
emerge in the 21st century