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The Rise of International Capital pp 15–41Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Existing Approaches to Economic Regionalism and Their Limitations

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Part of the book series: Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific ((CSAP))

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, the development of economic regionalism in many parts of the globe has been a matter of scholarly debate concerning the forms, instruments, and mechanisms of regional governance. The existing literature has developed around three different emphases, namely the functional objectives of regional economic integration, the nation-state’s strategy in order to survive, and the political and economic sources of regional institution building. These emphases emerged from the international relations theory and have been associated with three different groups of literature: the liberal framework of regionalism (functionalism and neoliberal institutionalism); the realist approach; and the political economy approach respectively. This chapter provides an analysis that finds that these existing approaches have limitations in explaining the social forces that drive the regional economic institution. The chapter shows that it is essential to place the broader structural context of the transformation of capitalist class in defining the economic project at regional level.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    APEC is also an example of ‘open regionalism’ that encourages further economic integration and minimizes the impact of national borders and controls. This implies a desire for non-discriminatory trade practices and a willingness to accept new members, differing sharply from the more closed variety of regionalism that marks Europe and the Americas (see Haggard, 1997; Katzenstein, 1997).

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  1. Department of International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Bantul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    Faris Al-Fadhat

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Al-Fadhat, F. (2019). Existing Approaches to Economic Regionalism and Their Limitations. In: The Rise of International Capital. Critical Studies of the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3191-6_2

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