Regionalism has been a significant phenomenon in post-Second World War international relations. 1950s and 1960s witnessed the rise of many regional groups in different parts of the world – the European Economic Community in Western Europe, the Organisation of African Unity in Africa, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the Middle-East, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Southeast Asia, to name a few. The success of the EEC among these was the most spectacular, but the same was not repeated in other parts of the world. By 1980, many of these regional organisations had been weakened and some had even ceased to exist. However, regionalism received a renewed impetus after the end of the Cold War and with the push of globalisation. The end of the Cold War brought about some major transformations in the international order. It accelerated the growth of interdependence, and provided impetus to the process of globalization. This has led to the erosion of sovereign power of the state. The question whether the state is – and how long will it continue to be – the primary organizing unit of international system, is being debated much more seriously today than ever before. Since the mid and late 1980’s, regionalization began to re-appear in different parts of the world. This process coincided with the rise of globalization. The two processes, thus, need to be explained and analyzed in the context of each other. Both globalization and regionalization lead
Few observers expected the end of the Cold War to facilitate the continuation and expansion of a pre-existing international system. Perhaps this explains, in part, why Hobsbawm (1994) describes the international landscape of the 1990s as 'unclear ' and akin to 'global
The second region to mention will be Europe. In Europe, there was a huge “border” defining which countries were communist and which ones were capitalist. This was called the “Iron Curtain.” As Churchill once stated, “An Iron Curtain has descended on Europe.” The split was between Eastern Europe and Western Europe.
Despite the factors that I mentioned above, the main factor for certain countries was gaining economical power. If we look through to the world
Regional & Economic Growth Assessment The North and South were both different and similar in how they operated. They were mostly based on the categories of transportation, agriculture, geography/climate, labor/industry, and society during the early 1800’s. These categories decided how much the North and South would progress as the country continued to grow. Geography/Climate In the North, they had all the four seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Regionalism will always exist due to the social constructs and the dividing boundaries. In Canada we have seen that regionalism is accentuated due to the north-south linkages between Canada and the United States by the support between the regions to resolve common problems, the availability of resources and the employment opportunities that have arose from these
national politics Adam Watson’s Evolution of International Society gave a new dimension in the understanding of international relations (IR). He deeply studied comparatively the formation of international society and political community of the past which has evolved into the modern world system in his ‘Evolution of International Society’. Unlike Kenneth Waltz views of anarchy as the only system in IR, Watson says there are two systems viz. anarchy and hierarchy. In between these systems is the hegemony which defines the contemporary IR.
This return to a more familiar and reassuring time was in line with a feeling of distress and fear of globalization and industrialization. Internationalism had lost its appeal and it was now considered as something extremely dangerous: the root of all evil and the cause of European
He argues that due to the absence of a international governing body, states should actively pursue conflict in order to ensure their own survival. He goes on to use economic concepts to describe his viewpoint of the anarchical structure of international politics. He says, “The market arises out of the activities of separate units--persons and firms--whose aims and efforts are directed not toward creating order but rather fulfilling their own internally defined interests by whatever means they can muster”(Waltz, 52). This supports the realist argument that states operate based on self interest and, contrasting with Wendt, do not consider their identities within the international system.
But some scholars also claim that “Globalization” is a new trend which technically emerged only in modern times or during the 20th century. However, the fact is that “Globalization” took place as a process of mobilization of human capital, travel, cultural exchange, free trade and modernization. Over the years the trend of globalization has seen some basic changes, which is the topic of this essay. This essay is about the difference between the trend of globalization in 20th century and 21st century. The trend of globalization in 20th century and 21st century differs in the following way:
Globalization and Nation States Globalization has integrated and intertwined the economies of the world. In the world today, every nation has become independent on every other nation, be it through trade or through finance. Developing countries today are attracting large rounds of foreign investment, and this foreign investment is coming from the developed countries. Thus, the money of the developed countries is today invested in the developing countries.
As the famous saying goes, “The strong do what they will while the weak do what they must," so let it be with the counties of the world and the role they play in International Politics. Eurocentrism is a concept that places Europe at the centre of the world. Assuming that it is self containing and self representing, the entire world is looked at with Europe at the centre. Eurocentrism bias leads to an illogical understanding of International Relations and makes politics and judgement to incline in the favour of the powerful. In this essay, I will critique the Eurocentric nature of International Relations theory and world politics.
I EMERGENCE OF REGIONALISM Global economic integration is a phenomenon that can be traced back to seven centuries ago since the travels of Marco Polo. Since his travel, integration has taken place through trade, factor movements and communication of economically useful knowledge and technology and is on the rise ever since. Regionalism is considered to be far from being uniform process; it has however emerged in various stages which are shaped by both external and internal factors. The starting point for regionalism is roughly estimated to be post the Second World War.
(1959) argued that, the study of international relations in the newly founded Soviet Union and later in communist China was stultified by officially imposed Marxist ideology, in the West the field flourished as the result of a number of factors: a growing demand to find less-dangerous and more-effective means of conducting relations between peoples, societies, governments, and economies; a surge of writing and research inspired by the belief that systematic observation and inquiry could dispel ignorance and serve human betterment; and the popularization of political affairs, including foreign affairs. Edward H. (1939) argued that, the international relations among other roles also it promotes the improvement of global economic governance and cooperation among emerging markets. The countries raise the voice and representativeness of developing countries in global economic
Globalisation could be defined from a descriptive and prescriptive sphere of the economy. Descriptive, globalisation is views as the fastest growth processes of the world-wide connectivity
The capitalist world-system is said to have begun in Europe in about the 1500’s and it expanded over the next few centuries to cover the whole world, as a result of the significant accumulation of capital. This significant accumulation of capital in Europe was enabled as a result of the capitalist world-economy being created by establishing long-distance trade in goods and linking production processes worldwide. In the process of this expansion the capitalist world system has consumed small mini-systems, world empires, as well as competing world-economies. But, these economic relationships were not created in a vacuum. The modern nation state was created in Europe along with capitalism to protect and to serve the interests of the capitalists.