Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Rise of Regions: Introduction to Regional Integration & Organisations

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Changing Global Order

Part of the book series: United Nations University Series on Regionalism ((UNSR,volume 17))

Abstract

In this chapter it is argued that the rise in regionalism since the end of the Cold War does not constitute a new phenomenon. In fact, regionalist movements can at least be traced back to the nineteenth century, and we are currently experiencing its fifth wave. However, what is certainly distinct about regionalism in the twenty-first century is the extent to which it draws on existing forms and the importance it has in structuring the global politico-economic order. Therefore, as shown in this chapter, today’s world (map) is characterized by a complex landscape of hundreds of regional groupings which are all connected in one way or the other. This chapter also conceptualizes overlapping and cognate terms for conceptual clarity, such as regionalism, regional cooperation, regional integration and regional sub-systems. Finally, the chapter lists various conceptual and empirical challenges related to the study of regionalism and regional integration efforts around the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    A number of trade agreements were established in Europe such as the customs unions between the Austrian and Nordic states.

  2. 2.

    According to Van Langenhove (2011: 48) the Westphalian world order has three built in deficiencies that make it difficult to come to just and efficient global governance schemes that also contribute towards the creation of new regionalist cooperation schemes: the differences in size of states that challenge the principle that all states are equal; the differences in wealth and power that allow some states to dominate others; and the non-binding aspects of the multilateral system.

  3. 3.

    See for example Riggirozzi and Tussie (2012) in which the authors propose the concept of “post-neoliberal regionalism” or Acharya (2014) who proposed “converging regions” and Baldersheim et al. (2011) introducing the concept of “networking regions”.

  4. 4.

    For a complete overview of all the regional integration agreements signed in the world, have a look at UNI-CRIS (2018) “Regional Integration database” [online] available at http://www.cris.unu.edu/riks/web/arrangement [Accessed 13 January 2018].

  5. 5.

    Full details: R. Glickhouse (2012) “Explainer: An Alphabet Soup of Regional Integration Organizations” [online] available at http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-alphabet-soup-regional-integration-organizations/ [Accessed 13 January 2018].

  6. 6.

    H. Heinonen (2006). Regional Integration and the State: The Changing Nature of Sovereignty in Southern Africa and Europe. Interkont Books, Helsinki, p. 68. B. Balassa (1961) The Theory of Economic Integration, R.D. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 304p.

  7. 7.

    For a list and brief description of current regional arrangements and membership of regional organizations by country, see the UNU-CRIS Regional Integration Knowledge System at http://www.cris.unu.edu/. The most important counter-argument for not including the EU in the classification of “Economic Union” is that it is no unified fiscal zone (yet).

  8. 8.

    For a complete overview of all the regional integration agreements signed in the world, have a look at UNI-CRIS (2018) “Regional Integration database” [online] available at http://www.cris.unu.edu/riks/web/arrangement [Accessed 13 January 2018].

Further Readings

  • Acharya, A. (2007). The emerging regional architecture of world politics. World Politics, 59, 629–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T., & Risse, T. (2016). The Oxford handbook of comparative regionalism (560p). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R. (2005). After hegemony: cooperation and discord in the world political economy (320p). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, F., & Shaw, T. (Eds.). (2003). Theories of new regionalism, a Palgrave reader (225p). Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

References

  • Acharya, A. (2005). Do norms and identity matter? Community and power in Southeast Asia’s regional order. The Pacific Review, 18(1), 95–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2014). Constructing a security community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the problem of regional order (314p). Basingstoke: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A. (2015). Foreword. In M. Telò, L. Fawcett, & F. Ponjaert (Eds.), Interregionalism and the European Union: A post-revisionist approach to Europe’s place in a changing world (pp. xx–xxvi). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balassa, B. (1961). The theory of economic integration (304p). London: R.D. Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldersheim, H., et al. (2011). The rise of the networking region: The challenges of regional collaboration in a globalized world (192p). Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. A. (2010a). The transformative power of Europe reloaded: The limits of external Europeanization (KFG Working Papers). Freie Universität Berlin, 11, Berlin, 31p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. A. (2010b). Comparative regionalism: European integration and beyond. In W. Carlsnaes et al. (Eds.), Handbook on international relations (2nd ed., pp. 503–530). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. (2011) “Comparative regionalism, a new research agenda”, KFG Working Papers, Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2016a). The EU and diffusion regionalism. In M. Telo et al. (Eds.), The European Union and interregionalism. Controversial impact and drivers of regionalism (pp. 51–67). Aldershot: Ashgate

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T. A., & Risse, T. (2016b). The Oxford handbook of comparative regionalism (560p). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Börzel, T., Goltermann, L., & Striebinger, K. (2016). Roads to regionalism: Genesis, design, and effects of regional organizations. Basingstoke: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Caporaso, J. (2002). Comparative regional integration. In W. Carlsnaes, T. Risse, & B. Simmons (Eds.), Handbook of international relations. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., & Simmons, B. A. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of international relations. Sage. ISO 690.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Lombaerde, P., & Schulz, M. (Eds.). (2009). The EU and world regionalism: The makability of regions in the 21st century (297p). Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Lombaerde, P., et al. (2010). The problem of comparison in comparative regionalism. Review of International Studies, 36(3), 731–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Melo, J., & Panagariya, A. (Eds.). (1995). New dimensions in regional integration (473p). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dicken, P. (2007) Global shift: Making the changing contour of the world economy (5th ed., 599p). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, L. (2009). Regionalism in world politics, past and present (18p). Oxford: University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawcett, L. (2016). International relations of the Middle East (424p). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fawn, R. (2009). ‘Regions’ and their study: Wherefrom, what for and whereto? Review of International Studies, 35(S1), 5–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glickhouse, R. (2012). Explainer: An alphabet soup of regional integration organizations [online]. Available at http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-alphabet-soup-regional-integration-organizations/. Accessed 13 Jan 2018.

  • Haas, E. B. (1967). The uniting of Europe and the uniting of Latin America. Journal of Common Market Studies, 5(4), 315–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinonen, H. (2006). Regional integration and the state: The changing nature of Sovereignty in Southern Africa and Europe (68p). Helsinki: Interkont Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hettne, B., Inotai, A., & Sunkel, O. (Eds.). (1999). Globalism and the new regionalism (p. xvii). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jetschke, A. (2009). Institutionalizing ASEAN: Celebrating Europe through network governance. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 22(3), 407–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jönsson., et al. (2000). Organising European space (216p). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzenstein, P. J. (2015). A world of regions: Asia and Europe in the American imperium (320p). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, G., Keohane, R., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing social inquiry (264p). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kritzinger-van Niekerk, L. (2005). Regional integration: Concepts, advantages, disadvantages and lessons of experience. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield, E. D., & Milner, H. V. (1999). The new wave of regionalism. International Organization, 53(3), 589–627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mattheis, F. (2014). New regionalism in the South – Mercosur and SADC in a comparative and interregional perspective (308 P). Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattheis, F. (2019). Fringe regionalism. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendelu University. (2018). Security activities of selected regional institutions [online]. Available at https://is.mendelu.cz/eknihovna/opory/zobraz_cast.pl?cast=69580. Accessed 13 Oct 2018.

  • Moravcsik, A. (1995). Liberal intergovernmentalism and integration: A rejoinder. Journal of Common Market Studies, 33, 611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moravcsik, A. (1997). Taking preferences seriously: A liberal theory of international politics. International Organization, 51(4), 513–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, K. (2005). Sustainable regions: Governance, innovation and sustainability. In New regionalism in Australia (pp. 27–48). Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moravcsik, A., & Schimmelfennig, F. (2009). Liberal intergovernmentalism. European Integration Theory, 2, 67–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niemann, M. (2001). Unstated places—Rereading southern Africa. In Theory, change and southern Africa’s future (pp. 58–82). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, J. S. (1968). Comparative regional integration: Concept and measurement. International Organization, 22(4), 855–880.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nye, J. S. (1971). Peace in parts: Integration and conflict in regional organization (210p). New York: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paasi, A. (2002). Place and region: Regional worlds and words. Progress in Human Geography, 26(6), 802–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parthenay, K. (2019). A political sociology of regionalisms. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prebisch, R. (1959). Commercial policy in the underdeveloped countries. The American Economic Review, 49(2), 251–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riggirozzi, P., & Tussie, D. (2012). The rise of post-hegemonic regionalism in Latin America. In The rise of post-hegemonic regionalism (pp. 1–16). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie, J. (1993). Territoriality and beyond: Problematizing modernity in international relations. International Organization, 47(1), 139–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R. (1995) The construction of social reality (241p). New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sil, R., & Katzenstein, P. (2010). Analytic eclecticism in the study of world politics: Reconfiguring problems and mechanisms across research traditions. Perspectives on Politics, 8(2), 411–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selleslaghs, J. (2014). “Managing global interdependence on the central American isthmus: EU-Central America interregional relations”, UNU-CRIS working papers (Vol. 8). Bruges: United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, F. (2003). Introduction: Theories of new regionalism. In Theories of new regionalism (pp. 1–21). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, F. (2016). Old, new, and comparative regionalism. In T. A. Börzel & T. Risse (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of comparative regionalism (pp. 16–41). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, F., & Shaw, T. (Eds.). (2003). Theories of new regionalism, a Palgrave reader (225p). Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Söderbaum, F., & Van Langenhove, L. (2005). Introduction: The EU as a global actor and the role of interregionalism. European Integration, 27(3), 249–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sommer, D. (1991). Foundational fictions: The national romances of Latin America (418p). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Telò, M., Fawcett, L., & Ponjaert, F. (2015). Interregionalism and the European Union. A post-revisionist approach to Europe’s place in a changing world. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thakur, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (2006). Enhancing global governance through regional integration. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 12(3), 233–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNU-CRIS. (2018). Regional integration database [online]. Available at http://www.cris.unu.edu/riks/web/arrangement. Accessed 13 Jan 2018.

  • Van Langenhove, L. (2003). Theorising regionhood (UNU-CRIS e-Working Papers, W-2003/1). United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, Bruges, 38p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Langenhove, L. (2011). Building regions: The regionalization of world order (198p). Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warleigh-Lack, A., & Rosamond, B. (2010). Across the EU studies–new regionalism frontier: Invitation to a dialogue. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 48(4), 993–1013.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Joren Selleslaghs

  2. Institute of European Studies, Free University of Brussels (VUB), Brussels, Belgium

    Luk Van Langenhove

Authors
  1. Joren Selleslaghs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luk Van Langenhove
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joren Selleslaghs .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Madeleine O. Hosli

  2. Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Joren Selleslaghs

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Selleslaghs, J., Van Langenhove, L. (2020). The Rise of Regions: Introduction to Regional Integration & Organisations. In: Hosli, M.O., Selleslaghs, J. (eds) The Changing Global Order. United Nations University Series on Regionalism, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21603-0_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation