What is regionalism? Describe the characteristics, importance, and causes of regionalism. Explain how it contributes to development.
Introduction:
The role of regional organizations is gradually increasing in the current world politics. Starting from the superpowers of the world, all countries are building various regional organizations for their own economic, social, and political benefits along with world peace, and in some cases, organizations like the United Nations are not able to reach these organizations. Therefore, the attention of international political analysts is now towards regional organizations. And this is why regionalism has emerged in world politics. To know the true nature of regional organizations in the world, we must first know the characteristics of regionalism, its origin, and how it plays a role in development.
Regionalism Definition:
Regionalism definition is an important topic in International Relationship Study. Before the Second World War, regionalism was the remarkable and sometimes conflicting thought, perspective, or trend that arose in the vast arena of world politics and which characterized world politics even temporarily.
In the general sense, a united movement or consciousness developed around a particular region and thinking about the overall development of that region can be called regionalism. Regionalism in the literal sense is-
- The theory or practice of regional rather than central system of administration or economic, cultural, or political facilitation. In other words, regionalism is the name given to give priority to regional ideas related to administrative, economic, political, or cultural issues rather than giving priority to central views or ideas.
- In another definition, we see, that if the views, ideas, loyalties, etc. acknowledge the group rather than the collective then it is called regionalism. This view manifests itself in complex ways such as loyalty etc. (A complex of attitudes, loyalties, and ideas which concentrates the individual and collective minds of people upon what they perceive as their region. – Penguin Dictionary of International Relations). In other words, the predominance of a particular region and the development of distinct views and loyalties about that region, we call it regionalism.
Characteristics of Regionalism:
The definition of regionalism that we have given above, lies in its main main characteristics. Its features are discussed below:
Firstly, many consider regionalism to be synonymous with nationalism. Because nationalism is developed around a particular nation. When a community feels that their caste is completely different from other castes or communities that is why they are vocal in their demand for separate statehood. Shows more willingness to show loyalty to one’s community than to other people. Similarly, regionalism does not think of the whole world or most of its parts. Proponents of regionalism believe that the development of the people of a particular geographical area is a special duty. Human activity or enthusiasm can never be unlimited. So many people think about limited boundaries.
Secondly, regionalism is a complex perspective, allegiance, and ideology. That is, there may not always be simplicity between the elements that draw on or the reasons that regionalism develops. Regionalism develops from a combination of many elements. Hence it is called complex.
Thirdly, regionalism is formed by a combination of both reality and emotion. When the people of one or more regions take the initiative to establish regional institutions, there must be several practical reasons. But at the same time, we would say that psychological factors must work behind the emergence of regionalism like nationalism.
The people of several nation-states can come together and take the initiative to establish organizations at the regional level. But in all cases, the movement of regional institutions is not formed. That is, we cannot call the movement of regionalism widespread or universal.
Reasons for the emergence of regionalism:
Scholars say that the contribution of several factors lie behind the birth of regionalism-
Firstly, Kalvocoresi (World Politics Since 1945) said, Disappointment with the functioning of the central organs of the UN led to a recrudescence of interest in regionalism. The immediate cause of the birth of regionalism is the disillusioned attitude towards the functioning of the main departments of the United Nations.
Many international experts, including Kalvokorasi, think that although the League of Nations and the United Nations were formed, other countries of the world could not trust these two world organizations or their main departments to protect world peace and security. Third-world countries in particular began to feel that the UN was of no use to them as the United Nations was under the total control of the superpowers.
They consider regional organizations as a more effective way to solve their economic and political problems. If the United Nations had been able to demonstrate full success in meeting the expectations of the people of the Third World, there would have been no need to develop regional organizations and regionalism would not have emerged.
Secondly, the birth of regionalism is largely psychological. The foreign policymakers of some countries and the vision and thinking of the people of those countries could not spread far. In other words, as the ruling group and the people of the state are particularly interested in developing friendly relations with the state, the regional ideology is given special importance and regionalism is born from it.
Thirdly, many states find it much easier to reach their goals by establishing relations with neighboring states than to solve national problems by establishing relations with all the states of the world. Because the easier it is to exchange between neighboring states, the easier it is to do so between non-neighboring states. That is why the initiative to establish regional organizations emerged and that emerged as one of the causes of regionalism.
Fourthly, when the establishment of regional organizations was called for in the initiative of the United Nations, the charter makers had a specific goal in front of them and that was to realize the desire for world peace and security by any means. If the international organization fails to achieve this goal, then the regional level must try to achieve that goal. Clinging to any kind of bigotry or stubbornness can put world peace and security in jeopardy. That is, the charter makers were particularly interested in adopting a pragmatic approach to safeguarding world peace and security.
Fifthly, before the formation of the United Nations, there were several organizations at the regional level, which undertook to solve all the disputes or problems that arose between several states. Their efforts may not always meet with success. But there is no way to deny their existence. The charter makers, for whatever reason, could not find all these regional organizations unnecessary. If a problem cannot be solved at the international level, there should be no objection to trying to solve it at the regional level. The purpose is to solve the problem.
Sixthly, while cooperation can be easily implemented at the regional level, it is difficult at the international level. Economic and cultural similarities between different states in a particular geographical area can be observed and good relations can be built on them. Such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka etc.
Development through Regionalism:
Due to the recognition of regional organizations by the United Nations, regionalism has been able to gain popularity at a large rate and the tendency to build regional organizations in various parts of the world has increased. In the next discussion, we discuss the reasons for the emergence of regionalism very briefly. Here we will mainly limit the discussion to how we can attend to development goals through regionalism.
If we look at the political and economic situation of the world, we can see that after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early nineties of the last century, world politics became the focus of only one country, and that country’s name is America. While describing this situation, international relations experts have well emphasized the word unipolarity.
It is no exaggeration to say that America’s unchallenged dominance of politics and economics has instilled a great deal of frustration in the minds of the people of the Third World. Because of America’s dominance, third-world countries are not getting enough of all the ingredients they need for development.
Because the sources of capital are either entirely under American control or American influence. And it is mainly because of this that unwanted obstacles have appeared in the way of capital supply. None of the Third World states can single-handedly resist or challenge this American influence. But development requires resources or materials. Therefore, many countries of the third world took the initiative to accelerate development by creating regional organizations.
Just as development requires capital and technical expertise, there is also a need for cooperation. This cooperation is not as easy to achieve at the regional level as it is at the international level. Several states in a particular area take the initiative to establish a regional organization.
It can be said, has taken in the past and is still taking. Looking at the actual situation, it can be seen that the development has been accelerated through the regional organizations that have been established in different parts of the world.
Based on cooperation, it can be said that some states in a region have certain similarities in terms of language, culture, religion, and other aspects, and this similarity is particularly helpful in expanding the scope of cooperation.
For example, we can mention the context of SAARC and the European Union. After the destruction of the Second World War, the countries of Western Europe thought deeply about the reconstruction of the economy, and although Washington helped with this, they formed regional organizations and kept the reconstruction in their own hands.
That is, the European Union accepts regionalism or regional organization as one of the tools of economic development and SAARC is not far behind in this regard. One of the multifaceted objectives of SAARC is to develop the eight countries comprising South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) by making full use of the natural resources available in the region.
The point to be noted is that there is no ideological or other conflict in the region or between SAARC countries but the question of development has been prioritized and the SAARC members have considered it a special goal to attend to the development goals based on regionalism.
Why Regionalism is Important:
Regional organizations or regionalism have, or have been created to play, important roles in maintaining global peace and security for several reasons.
Firstly, it is not the right way to unnecessarily drag all disputes that can be resolved at the regional level to the UN General Assembly or the Security Council.
Secondly, complications are likely to escalate if a problem emerges on UN premises. When a dispute is presented to a large number of members, the possibility of disagreement increases and delays settlement. The possibility of conflict in smaller areas is relatively less.
Thirdly, the United Nations is made up of independent and sovereign states. So one or more states can justifiably claim that the dispute must be settled at the place of origin and the UN cannot undermine that claim.
The United Nations cannot interfere with the independence and sovereignty of member states except under the Domestic Jurisdiction Principle and a couple of other areas. Therefore, the United Nations cannot deny the right of any state to settle disputes at the regional level.
Fourthly, an analysis of the history and nature of international events shows that many conflicts originate from minor incidents and can be resolved at the regional level. Therefore, it is not appropriate to bring the United Nations into it.
Fifthly, all peace-loving people of the world think that world peace and security are the things most desired by all the masses. Entrusting the responsibility of dealing with issues disturbing peace and security to a single center means keeping others out of the common arena. This step is not recommended at all. World peace and security can be achieved by the united efforts of all, and accepting this simple and general principle, regional organizations must have a significant role to play.
Sixthly, before the birth of the United Nations, several regional organizations were established in various parts of the world, whose purpose was to resolve disputes. Later, the United Nations observed that abolishing all these organizations with the stroke of a pen could not be considered an act of discretion. Rather, they should be allowed to play their respective roles as needed. When the failure of the regional organization becomes evident, the international organization will step in to intervene.
How much success can be achieved in a very important task like maintaining a world? Peace and security depend on several factors or circumstances. It is very important to become confident in regionalism. All would be interested in resolving disputes through regional organizations first.
Another condition is that all instruments or powers necessary for the settlement of disputes must be in the hands of the regional body. Non-cooperation or stubbornness of conflicting states frustrates the role of regional organizations in maintaining global peace and security.
This fear is not at all unfounded. However, we think that if the states on the ladder of regionalism can attend to the goal of development and can build an atmosphere of compromise, the recurrence of disruptive forces on the path of world peace and security will be reduced. That is, regionalism will work indirectly for world peace and security even if not directly.
Conclusion:
The word development is quite broad. Apart from traditional money, many people now think that if a country can achieve independence in economic and other fields, then development will be considered in that country. We believe that achieving this self-reliance is a very long-term issue. It is not an easy task for countries that were once under colonial rule to become self-reliant overnight.
Therefore, to make regionalism an effective weapon of development, the relations between the members of the regional organizations must be raised to the level of good relations and comprehensive cooperation, and the member states must pay attention to the maintenance of democracy within the organization.
Many believe that the European Union is playing a leading role in many respects. Over the past few years, the European Union has been able to maintain its development by expanding its sphere of cooperation and creating democratic structures. Although the success of SAARC has not been as impressive as that of the European Union, it has been successful in many areas.