WORLD OF

REGIONS
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Differentiate regionalization and globalization;
2. Explain how regions are formed and kept
together;
3. Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of
regionalism; and
4. Identify the factors leading to a greater
integration of the Asian region.
WORLD OF
REGIONS
 Governments, associations,
societies and groups form
regional organizations and/or
network as a way of coping
with the challenges of
globalizations.
REGIONALISM
• It is examined in relation to identities, ethics,
religion, ecological sustainability and health.
• It is a process and must be treated as an
“emergent, socially constituted phenomenon.”
• Regions are not natural or given rather, they
are constructed and defined by the
policymakers, economic actors and even social
movements
REGIONALISM
• Regional concentration of economic flows”
• It is the process of dividing the area into
smaller segments called regions.
• Example: Division of Nation into states or Provinces
• Political process characterized by economic
policy cooperation and coordination among
countries.
 WHAT IS REGIONS?
Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner state
that economic and political definitions of regions
vary.

- Regions are “a group of countries located in the

geographically specified area” or “an
amalgamation of two regions or a combination of
more than two regions” organized to regulate and
“oversee flows and policy choices.”
Regionalization and Regionalism are different

Regionalization
- regional concentration of economic flows
Regionalism
- a political process characterized by
economic policy cooperation and coordination
among countries
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RESPOND
OF COUNTRIES TO GLOBALIZATION
1. Some are large enough and have a lot of
resources to dictate how they
participate in process of global
integration.
 Example: China offers its cheap and huge
workforce to attract foreign business and
expand trade with countries it once considered
its enemies but now sees as markets for its
goods.
2. Other countries make up for their small
size by taking advantage of their strategic
location.
 Example: Singapore and Switzerland
compensate for their lack of resources by
turning themselves into financial and banking
hubs.
REASONS OF FORMING REGIONAL
ASSOCIATIONS
1. Military Defense
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Formed during the Cold War when
several Western European countries plus
the United states agreed to protect
Europe against the threat of the Soviet
Union.
 WARSAW PACT
• a regional alliance created by Soviet
Union
• Soviet Union imploded in December
1991 but NATO remains in place.
2. Pool their resources, get better return for
their exports and expand their leverage against
trading partners.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC)
– It was established in 1960 by Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and Venezuela.
– It aims to regulate the production and sale of oil.
– OPEC’s success convinced 9 other oil-producing countries
to join it.
3. Protect their independence from the pressure
of superpower politics.
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
– Created by Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia and Yugoslavia
in 1961 to pursue world peace and international
cooperation, human rights, national sovereignty, racial and
national equality, non Intervention and peaceful conflict
resolution.
– Because the association refused to side with either first
world countries capitalist democracies in Western Europe
and North America or communist states in Easter Europe.
– With 120 member countries.
4. Economic Crisis compels countries to come
together
Example:
– The Thai economy collapsed in 1996 after the
foreign currency speculators and troubled
international banks demanded that the Thai
government pay back its loans.
– It made ASEAN more “unified and coordinated”
 New Regionalism
• Tiny associations that include no more than a few
actors and focus on a single issue, or huge continental
unions that address a multitude of common problems
from territorial defense to food security.
• Rely on the power of individuals, non-government
organizations and associations to link up with one
another in pursuit goal.
 New Regionalism

• Identified with reformists who share the same

“values, norms, institutions, and system that
exist outside of the traditional, established
mainstream institution and system.”