Regionalism

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Regionalism
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Structure and Objectives of the Lecture

• Section One Definitions of region. Draw
  distinction between regionalisation and
  regionalism.
• Section Two Look at pre-history or regionalism,
  the old regionalism (EU) and post-war third
  world regionalism

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• Section Three Introduction to the new wave of
  regionalism. The renaissance of EU project and
  new third regionalism
• Section Four Contemporary EU
• Section Five Contemporary Asia
• Section Six Contemporary Africa
• Section Seven Contemporary Americas

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• Section Eight (Conclusions) Draw out the main
  features of contemporary regionalism and draw in
  relevance of Amin arguments

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Section One

• How do we define the region?
• In a sense it has a physical meaning but the
  concrete form that region takes is socially
  determined
• Turkey and Europe
• APEC (Half the World!)
• Australia and Asia

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• To say socially constructed leaves open the
  question of what primarily forces in that
  construction
• Constructivists/ Post-Modernists focus on
  culture, the construction of identity etc.
• I would suggest that Economic logics (and
  geo-politics) are the master.

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• Look at Poland!
• Look at Europe and Africa!
• Little sense of collective European identity yet
  success!
• In a sense arguing that geo-politics and economic
  regionalisation are key to success of political
  regionalism

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• What mean by economic regionalisation is the
  extent to which a regional economy actually
  exists or the extent material basis for the
  development of economic actually exists
• Relationship between regionalisation and
  regionalism is complex

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• Regionalisation without formal political
  co-operation is possible (Labour Movements across
  US border)
• Taiwan and China
• However, in most regionalisation involve some
  level of conscious political planning

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• Asia in Japans Embrace
• Asian Development Bank, Overseas development aid.
  
• So there is a clear relationship between the two
• Mainstream regionalism in the absence of viable
  basis for regionalisation is doomed

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Section Two

• Regional Free Trade Agreements in the C19th
• Inter-War Period (Seen as hostile blocs). What is
  regionalism, how do we define regulation and what
  is simple imperialism? Some definitions seem
  ridiculous (Mansfield and Milner)
• Liberal reservations about regionalism stem from
  experiences of this era

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• EU (in a sense founded in 1951) ECSC (France,
  West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and
  Netherlands)
• Monnet and Schuman
• Strongly supported by US
• Monnet and Schuman ultimately always had a
  Federalist vision

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• There is no real peace in Europe, if the states
  are reconstituted on a basis of national
  sovereignty. (...) They must have larger markets.
  Their prosperity is impossible, unless the States
  of Europe form themselves in a European
  Federation." Jean Monnet
• There is no future for the people of Europe other
  than in union." Jean Monnet
• "Building Union among people not cooperation
  between states"

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• Monnet was a economic planner for much of his
  career.
• Type of Federal Europe Monnet desired different
  from contemporary project. Construction of
  semi-open Social Market Europe

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• At same time various regional groups formed in
  other areas of he world
• Some dominated by security in context of cold war
  (ASEAN 1967 SADC 1980)
• Many third world regional groupings sought to
  limit engagement with world economy
• Regionalism way asserting yourself against
  imperialists

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• Some formal federalist aspirations
• Regionalism was rendered relatively ineffective
  by dominance on state-building
• Also in so far based on free trade reproduce
  core-periphery relations

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Section Four (EU)

• Contemporary EU project unambiguously neo-liberal
  (expect agriculture)
• Euro (regime of monetary control it establishes),
  restrictions on industrial policy and singular
  focus on competition and freedom for capital
• Accounting standards, banking etc.

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• Also if we study Commission documents it clear
  Europe will not a fortress but a mechanism
  through which promote the integration of European
  capital into global circuits of accumulation

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• EU becomes a mechanism to advance domestic reform

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Section Five (East Asia)

• Regionalisation more advanced than regionalism
• Factors limiting regionalism Japan, incomplete
  state building, the cold war and key states
  developmentalism
• Fairly standard to argue that regionalism was
  irreverent in Asia up until fairly recently

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• Ongoing talks about Korea-Japan free trade area
• APEC- loose non-binding agenda setting collective
  (parallels with OECD, vast range of states from
  China, Vietnam to America). Very liberal
  aspirations (Bogor Goals of, "free and open trade
  and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for
  developed economies and 2020 for developing
  economies.")

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• ASEAN- Free trade and Investment facilitation
  area (evolving out of anti-communism)
• Through the swift realization of an ASEAN Free
  Trade Area and an ASEAN Investment Area, ASEAN
  should continue to be an attractive place of
  investment for Japanese companies (from official
  document).

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Section Six (Americas)

• NAFTA (Canada, US and Mexico)
• Small environmental side deal, no real social
  element.
• Asymmetric impact (As Lester Thurow pointed out,
  a worst case scenario would entail the loss of
  480,000 American jobs over the next five years
  the best case would see the addition of 170,000
  jobs)
• Much greater impact on Mexico and sections of
  the Canadian state.

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• Other regional organisation developing in
  relation to NAFTA on content
• Mercosor (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela,
  and Paraguay)
• Mercosor facilitate and further domestic
  liberalisation and deregulation processes by
  putting in place reinforcing mechanisms at a
  regional level.
• Although it has had disagreements with US

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• Hugo Chivas decontaminate it of neoliberalism
• Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia trying to launch
  Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
• Andean Community of Nations (Bolivia, Colombia,
  Ecuador, Peru)- institutionalised, formal social
  dimension
• Colombia and Peru have FTA with the US

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Section Seven (Africa)

• New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD)-
  Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South
  Africa. 2001
• African Union - 2001 out of African Economic
  Community (AEC) and the Organisation of African
  Unity (OAU)
• Array of Sub regional groupings
• Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD)
  Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
  (COMESA) East African Community (EAC) Economic
  Community of Central African States
  (ECCAS/CEEAC))

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• Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
  (CEMAC) Economic Community of West African States
  (ECOWAS) West African Economic and Monetary Union
  (UEMOA)
• West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)
• Southern African Development Community (SADC,
  now dominated by SA) Southern African Customs
  Union (SACU) Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA)

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• Supported by World Bank. Post- Conditionality
• Intellectual leader South Africa (African
  Renaissance)
• Trevor Manuel, South Africas finance minister
  asserted, there is a new resilience and a new
  will to succeed in the African continent. We in
  South Africa have called it a
• renaissance, a new vision of political and
  economic renewal. It takes the global competitive
  marketplace as point of departure

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• Problems in terms quality of competent parts
• Also Ingraining structural inequalities
• The proliferation of projects can be taken as a
  sign of weakness
• Also absurd lack of realism (2023)

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Conclusions

• Open (empirical) question as to whether social
  element included in particular projects
• Liberal obsession with trade unwarranted
• Backward Linkages Mainly GCC.

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• There is no inherent reason why regionalism needs
  to take the form it does
• Amin and Wider approach- aspirations.