Summary (A World of Regions: Introduction)

Governments, associations, societies, and group form regional organizations and/or

networks as a way of coping the challenges of globalization. While regionalism is often seen

as a political and economic phenomenon, the term actually encompasses a broader area. It

can be examined in the relation to identities, ethics, religion, ecological sustainability, and

health. "Regionalism is a process that must be regarded as an emergent, socially formed

phenomena," says the author. It means that regions are neither natural or predetermined;

rather, governments, economic players, and even social movements develop and define

them.

Summary (A World of Region: Countries, Regions, and Globalization)

Countries respond economically and politically to globalization in various ways. Some are

large enough and have a lot of resources to dictate how they participate in processes of

global integration. In most cases, however, countries form a regional alliance for-as the

saying goes- there is strength in numbers. Countries form regional associations for several

reasons. One is for military defense. The most widely known defense grouping is the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed during the Cold War when several Western

European countries plus the United States agreed to protect Europe against the threat of the

Soviet Union. The Soviet Union responded by creating its regional alliance, the Warsaw

Pact, consisting of the Eastern European countries under Soviet domination. Countries form
regional associations for several reasons. One is for military defense. Countries also form

regional organizations to pool their resources, get better returns for their exports, as well as

expand their leverage against trading partners. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries (OPEC) was established in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and

Venezuela to regulate the production and sale of oil. OPEC’s success convinced nine other

oil-producing countries to join it. Moreover, there are countries that form regional blocs to

protect their independence from the pressures of superpower politics. The presidents of

Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Yugoslavia created the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

in 1961 to pursue world peace and international cooperation, human rights, national

sovereignty, racial and national equality, non- intervention, and peaceful conflict resolution. It

called itself non-aligned because the association refused to side with either the First World

capitalist democracies in Western Europe and North America or the communist states in

Eastern Europe. The movement, however, was never formalized and continues to exist up to

the present, although it lacks the same fervor that it had in the past. Finally, economic crisis

compels countries to come together. The Thai economy collapsed in 1996 after foreign

currency speculators and troubled international banks demanded that the Thai government

pay back its loans. A rapid withdrawal of foreign investments bankrupted the economy. This

crisis began to spread to other Asian countries as their currencies were also devalued and

foreign investments left in a hurry. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) tries to reverse the

crisis, but it was only after the ASEAN countries along with Chine, Japan, and South Korea

agreed to establish an emergency fund to anticipate a crisis that the Asian economies

stabilized. The crisis made ASEAN more “unified and coordinated.” The Association has
come a long way since it was formed as a coalition of countries, but the beginnings of

economic cooperation were occurred after the Vietnam War.

Summary (A World of Region: Non- State Regionalism)

It is not only states that agree to work together in the name of single cause. Communities

and non-governmental organization also engage in regional organizing. This “new

regionalism” 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 a territorial defense to food security. Organizations representing this

new regionalism likewise rely on the power of individuals, non-governmental organizations,

and associations to link up with one another in pursuit of a particular goal. New regionalism

is identified with reformists who share the same “values, norms, institutions, and system that

exist outside of the traditional, established mainstream institutions and systems.” Some

organizations partners with governments to initiate social change. Those who work with

governments participate in institutional mechanisms that afford some civil society groups

voice and influence technocratic policy-making processes. For example, the ASEAN issued

its Human Rights Declaration in 2009, aware that democratic rights are limited in many

ASEAN countries, “new regionalism organizations used this official declaration to pressure

these governments to pass laws and regulations that protect and promote human rights. In

Southeast Asia, the organization of an ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights was in
part of the result of non-government organizations and civil society group pushing to

“prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, and promote democracy and human rights

throughout the region. Other regional organizations dedicate themselves to specialized

causes like: Rainforest Foundation that dedicate themselves to protect indigenous peoples

and the rainforests in Brazil, Guyana, Panama, and Peru. Regional Interfaith Youth

Networks that is created to promote conflict prevention, resolution, peace, education, and

sustainable development. The Migrant Forum which is another regional network of NGOs

and Trade unions committed to protect and to promote the rights and welfare of migrant

workers. These organizations’ primary power lies in their moral standing and their ability to

combine lobbying with pressure politics but they have a huge disadvantage when it comes to

finances which limits their impact in global politics. New regionalism differs significantly from

traditional state-to-state regionalism when it comes to identifying problems. For Example,

state treat poverty or environmental degradation as technical or economic issues. However,

new regionalism advocates such as the NGO Global forum see these issues as reflections of

flawed economic development and environmental models. Another challenge for the new

regionalist is the discord that may emerge among them. For example, disagreements

surface over issues like gender and religion, with pro-choice NGOs breaking from religious

civil groups that side with Church, Muslims imams, or governments opposed to reproductive

rights and other pro-women policies. Migrant Forum Asia and its ally, the Coordination of

Action Research on AIDS (CARAM), lobbied ASEAN governments to defend migrant labor

rights.
Summary (A World of Region: Contemporary Challenges to Regionalism)

Regionalism faces multiple challenges, the most serious of which is the resurgence of

militant nationalism and populism. The refusal to dismantle NATO after the collapse of the

Soviet Union has become the basis of the anti-NATO rhetoric of Vladimir Putin in Russia.

After Donald Trump demonized the organization the relationship of the United States-the

alliance’s core member-with NATO has become problematic. Perhaps the most crisis-ridden

regional organization of today is the European Union. The continuing financial crisis of the

region is forcing countries like Greece to consider leaving the Union to gain more flexibility in

their economic policy. Anti-immigrant sentiment and a populist campaign against Europe has

already led to the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union in a move the media

has termed the “Brexit.” 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. Moreover, 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. A final challenge pertains to differing visions of what regionalism should be for.

Western governments may see regional organizations not simply as economic formations

but also as instruments of political democratization. Non-Western and developing societies,

however, may have a different view regarding globalization, development, and democracy.

Democracy’s tedious procedures must, therefore, give way to efficiency.

Official regional associations now cover vast swaths of the world. The population of the

countries that joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Council (APEC) along comprised 37 percent

of the world’s population in 2007. These countries are also part of “smaller” organizations

that include the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation

Organization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Caribbean and Pacific Group

of States, and the Union of South American Nations. Even that “isolationist” North Korea is

Part of the Regional Forum, which discusses security issues in the region. 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. The history of regionalism shows that

regional associations emerge as new global concerns arise. The future of regionalism will be

contingent in the immense changes in global politics that will emerge in the 21st century.