"
Regionalism has always had two dimensions. The first is the political part of maintaining order in the international system. The second is the encouraging of economic cooperation within that region."
(Srinivasa-Raghavan, T.
Economic Regionalism: The Way to Go, 2005, visited 2009-08-04)
In international relations,
regionalism is any form of institutionalized cooperation between two or more countries. It aims at promoting common economic activities: relying on the same resources, engaging in the same type of activities, and having common sets of economic interactions.
Old and New Regionalism
"Historically, one can distinguish differing degrees of integration among countries, along a continuum from shallow to deep. Shallow integration involves only reducing or eliminating barriers to trade in commodities. Deep integration involves additional elements of harmonizing national policies, and allowing or encouraging internal factor mobility. The first 20-30 years after World War II can be seen as a period characterized by shallow integration, both globally and, where tried, regionally (old
regionalism). With the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, and perhaps earlier in some areas, there were strong elements of deeper integration, going beyond commodity trade and standard border protection policies. Many RTAs [regional trade agreements] introduced in the past 10-15 years have involved elements of deeper integration, and many of them have linked developing and developed countries the twin characteristics of new
regionalism."
(Burfisher, M.E., S. Robinson, and K. Thierfelder,
Regionalism: Old and New, Theory and Practice, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2004, visited 2009-08-04)
"The emergence of regional systems of states and political linkages, preoccupied with increasing cooperation and regulation within transborder territorial domains, is a notable development of the post-Second World War era. The leading examples of this trend are the EU (European Union), NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)."
The contemporary phase of economic globalization is distinguished from past phases by the existence of a single global economy transcending and integrating the world's major economic regions. In fact, the growth of
regionalism has not produced a sharp division of the world into competing blocs; for the regionalization of economic activity has not been at the expense of economic globalization. On the contrary,
regionalism has largely facilitated and encouraged economic globalization since it offers a mechanism through which national economies can engage more strategically with global markets.
(Adapted from Held, D. and A. McGrew,
The Global Transformation Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate, 2nd Edition, Cambridge [UK]:
"The rapid spread of
regionalism is surely one of the most important recent developments in the global trade system. Nearly every developing country is in, or is discussing, a
regional integration arrangement."
(Euromed,
Clustering and Regional Economic Development, visited 2009-08-04)