Regionalism Under Stress

Regionalism is under stress. The European Union has been challenged by the Eurozone crisis, refugee flows, terrorist attacks, Euroscepticism, and Brexit. In Latin America, regional cooperation has been stagnating. Studying Europe and Latin America within a broader comparative perspective, this volume provides an analytical framework to assess stress factors facing regionalism. The contributors explore how economic and financial crises, security challenges, identity questions raised by immigration and refugee flows, the rise of populism, and shifting regional and global power dynamics have had an impact on regionalism; whether the EU crisis has had repercussions for regionalisms in other parts of the world; and to what extent the impact of stress factors is mediated by characteristics of the region that may provide elements of resilience. Written by specialists from Europe and Latin America with a shared interest in the new field of comparative regionalism, this book will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars and policy specialists in regional integration, European politics, EU studies, Latin American studies, and international relations and international law more generally.

A systematic and wide-ranging survey of the scholarship on regionalism, regionalisation, and regional governance. Unpacking the major debates, leading authors of the field synthesise the state of the art, provide a guide to the comparative study of regionalism, and identify future avenues of research.

The collapse of Barings bank and the currency crisis in Mexico are just two instances of stress in an international financial system still largely governed by the institutions established by the Bretton Woods Committee in 1944. Here, the authors put forward an agenda for a new system of international economic institutions to fit the changes in international relations. This agenda includes: * an analysis of the role of the Bretton Woods institutions and their relations with the newly created World Trade Organizations * a discussion of the search for world economic governance * an analysis of the crisis within EMS and the prospects for European Monetary Integration * an examination of the integration of private markets in the new economic architecture.

This volume analyses South American regional and international cooperation during the COVID19 crisis started in 2020. Across thirteen chapters a collection of leading experts address how regional collaboration has developed, evolved, and recoiled. The chapters explore the state of regionalism at the pandemic surge and the challenges and opportunities this situation has opened for regional and international cooperation. Authors analyze the role of extra-regional powers and traditional regional leaders during the pandemic, identifying the extent to which regional cooperation has been possible across several policy agendas. They argue that fragmented visions of regionalism, ideological polarization, and weak leadership, has prevailed from before the pandemic which, accompanied by adverse interactions among major powers, has ensured that cooperation has remained bilateral rather than regional. Ultimately all these factors have created a complex scenario in which disintegration dynamics have emerged, darkening, even more, the South American regional panorama. Regional and International Cooperation in South America After COVID will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars and policy specialists of regionalism and regional integration, Latin American studies, international relations and international political economy.

This interdisciplinary edited volume explores the political economy of regionalism in Latin America. It identifies convergent forces which have existed in the region since its very conception and analyses these dynamics in their different historical, geographic and structural contexts. Particular attention is paid to key countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, as well as subregions like the Southern Cone and Central America. To understand the resilience of regionalism in Latin America, this book proposes to highlight four main issues. Firstly, that resilience is linked to mechanisms of self-enforcement that are part of the accumulation of experiences, institution building and common cultural features described in this book as regionalist acquis. Secondly, the elements and driving forces behind the promotion and expression of the regionalist acquis are influenced and shaped by nested systems in which social processes are inserted. Thirdly, when looking at systems, there is a particular influence by national and global ones, which condition the form and endurance of regional projects. Finally, beyond systems, the book highlights the relevance of agents as crucial players in the shaping of the resilience of regionalism in Latin America. This insightful collection will appeal to advanced students and researchers in international economics, international relations, international political economy, economic history and Latin American studies.

Most regions of the world are plagued by conflicts that are made insoluble by a confluence of complex threads from history, geography, politics, and culture. These "frozen conflicts" defy conflict management interventions by both internal and external agents and institutions. Worse, they constantly threaten to extend beyond their local geographies, as in the terrorist bombings in Boston by ethnic Chechens, or to escalate from skirmishes to full-scale war, as in Nagorno-Karabakh. Consequently, such conflicts cry out for alternative approaches to the classic, state-focused, and sovereignty-based conflict management models that are practiced in traditional diplomacy—which most often produce rather short-term, ad hoc, fragmented interventions and outcomes. Drawing upon the cases of the South Caucasus, the Western Balkans, Central America, South East Asia, and Northern Ireland, Networked Regionalism as Conflict Management offers a theoretical and practical solution to this impasse by arguing for regional collective interventions that involve a long-term reengineering of existing conflict management infrastructure on the ground. Such approaches have been attracting the attention of scholars and practitioners alike yet, thus far, these concepts have rarely involved more than simple prescriptions for regional cooperation between grassroots actors and traditional diplomacy. Specifically, says Anna Ohanyan, only the cultivation and establishment of regional peace systems can provide an effective path toward conflict management in these standoffs in such intractably divided regions.

Brexit confirms that the EU is not a super-state in the making but rather an advanced regional organization. This book bridges the gap between EU studies and international relations by providing a student-friendly presentation of regional, multidimensional cooperation among neighbouring states and societies, its four epochs and relevant variations and similarities across five continents, its interplay with globalization, and the changing post-hegemonic and post-Cold War international order. This text secondly focuses on the question of regionalism in hard times: whether the global financial crisis and multipolar power politics are leading to more competitive and political forms of instrumental regionalism and interregionalism in Europe, East-Asia and the Americas. It does this by addressing the political and strategic dimensions of changing regional/interregional arrangements and their current and potential impact on global governance, notably on trade and security challenges.

This book examines the drivers of regionalism and integration in both Europe and Asia and seeks to forge comparative perspectives between the two regions. Comprising contributions from scholars, analysts and policymakers, this volume explores and debates how and why regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are formed and sustained. Furthermore, it examines the drivers of, and impediments to, regionalism and integration. The debates regarding what and who constitute drivers are presented in a fresh, thematic and comprehensive manner. Leadership and core states are also critically examined, whilst material, ideational and normative factors are all assessed comparatively. Significantly, in light of the global financial crisis, the book considers the role of crisis as a driver of regionalism and integration. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers interested in Asian and European politics and comparative politics.