Unit 2 Globalization and Regionalization

Lead-in

a. Read the abstract given below. Guess what political trend in the international society it describes.

Interdependence, interconnectedness, and globalization is what increasingly characterizes our world today. The era of the end of geography is based on the idea of the creation of a global social system and implies a tendency towards a borderless world in which territory has lost all importance. However, since the early 1990s an explosion of various forms of regionalist projects can be witnessed all over the world. According to the Comparative Regional Integration Studies Programme, out of a list of 58 regional groupings, 20 were created after the end of the Cold War, and out of the 191 Member States of the United Nations, only 9 are not part of regional arrangements.

b. The concept of regionalism is based on the notion of a region. Look at the maps and say why there are different approaches to the vision of what a region is. What can be an impetus to make up a region?

1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

Now study the information given below and see whether your ideas were correct:

There is no commonly accepted definition of what a region is. Most would agree that a region implies some geographical proximity and contiguity, and mutual interdependence. Others would add a certain degree of cultural homogeneity and a sense of community. Regionbuilding presupposes closer economic, political, security and socio-cultural linkages, regional cooperation and integration.

c. In an age of rapid globalization, regionalism might seem to be a notion better suited to the nineteenth century than the early twenty-first. Far from vanishing, however, regionalism has actually flourished in the last half century. Discuss in pairs why there is a tendency towards regionalism in the era of globalization. What contributes to the development of regionalism?

A: I am inclined to believe that the phenomenon of regionalism appeared largely due to the growing gap between the North and the South as a result of globalization.

B: I agree with you. Besides, there is another crucial point. The international society is strengthening the moves to seek regional conflict resolution through organizations of regional cooperation and to establish dialogue between regions.

A: I don’t share your point of view because …

d. Study the quotations about the relations between global moves and regional moves and say which one you agree with more.

“The two processes of globalization and regionalization are articulated within the same larger process of global structural transformation. The process of regionalization can only be understood within the context of globalization. To deal only with regionalization would be to miss the other side of the coin, which is globalization.” (Björn Hettne)

“Regionalization can be seen as a response to the process of globalization and the social eruptions and inequalities associated with this process. Regionalization stimulates the emergence of a political will to halt or to reverse the process of globalization, in order to safeguard some degree of territorial control and cultural diversity.” (Carolina G. Hernandez)