How does the regionalism shape the world politics? Explain with examples. (2016, 15 Marks)
Regionalism is a deliberate, state-led policy of cooperation among neighbours through institutions. Joseph S. Nye (International Regionalism, 1968) defined a region as a limited number of states linked by geography and a degree of mutual interdependence. It differs from regionalisation, the market-driven growth of regional flows. Peter J. Katzenstein (A World of Regions, 2005) and Amitav Acharya both argue that regions now form a distinct layer of world order between the state and the globe. That layer shapes world politics in at least six ways.
1. Turning rivals into security communities
- Karl W. Deutsch showed that dense interaction can create security communities, groups of states among which war becomes unthinkable. The EU made Franco-German war materially impossible and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.
- ASEAN used the “ASEAN Way” of consultation and non-interference to manage disputes among states that were once hostile. Its record is uneven, however: the 2025 Thailand–Cambodia border war required outside mediation.
2. Reshaping the global economy
- Some 388 notified regional trade agreements were in force in September 2026 (WTO). Intra-regional trade is about two-thirds of Europe’s total but under 6% in South Asia.
- Jagdish Bhagwati asked whether regional agreements are building blocks or stumbling blocks for multilateralism. RCEP, the AfCFTA and the EU–Mercosur agreement (signed 2026) carry liberalisation forward while WTO negotiations stall. The cost is Bhagwati’s “spaghetti bowl” of overlapping rules.
3. Giving states collective bargaining power
- The EU negotiates as one in the WTO and concluded its FTA with India in January 2026, which no member could achieve alone.
- ASEAN centrality makes eleven middle and small states the convening hub of the East Asia Summit and the ARF.
- The African Union joined the G20 in 2023.
4. Exporting norms and rules
- Anu Bradford’s “Brussels effect” (2020): EU rules on data, chemicals and carbon (CBAM) become global standards that Indian exporters must meet.
- The AU’s Article 4(h), which permits intervention in cases of grave crimes, anticipated the Responsibility to Protect.
5. Structuring great-power competition
- Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver (Regions and Powers, 2003) argue that most security dynamics are regional. NATO, the SCO, the CSTO and the Quad organise rivalry in Europe, Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific. NATO’s enlargement to Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024) redrew Europe’s security map.
6. Creating its own failures and exits
- SAARC, with no summit since 2014, shows how one bilateral dispute can freeze a region. India now works through BIMSTEC and other forms of variable geometry, and it stayed out of RCEP in 2019 to protect domestic sectors.
- Domestic politics can unmake regional projects, as with Brexit and the US withdrawal from the TPP (2017).
Conclusion
Regionalism acts as a middle tier of order: it settles conflicts, organises markets, sets norms and channels great-power rivalry. Its effect depends on whether members share interests deeply enough to be bound. Where they do, as in the EU, it reshapes the world. Where they do not, as in SAARC, it mirrors the rivalries it was meant to overcome. In Acharya’s multiplex world, regions are where much of the new order is negotiated.