Chapter Four

Globalization and Regionalism

By: Mahteme Feleke
4.1. Defining Globalization
• Globalization is a multi dimensional process characterized by:
1. the stretching of social and political activities across political state borders
• events, decisions and activities in one part of the world impacts individuals and
communities in the other parts of the world
2. the intensification of interconnectedness in almost every aspect of social
existence
• economy, ecology, health issues like HIV/ Covid, world trade, weapons etc.
3. the accelerating pace of global interactions and process
• rapid world wide transport and communication increase leading to fast transmission
of news, goods, information, capital and technology to move around the world with
ease
4. deepening enmeshment (tangle) of local and global
• local events might have serious global impact; global events might have great impact
on local consequences
• lead the world to be a shared social space
• Globalization also taken to mean the process of time-space compression
(process of deterritorialization)
– National economic space is no longer conterminous (adjoined) with national
territorial space alone.
– In the globalized world, territorial borders no longer demarcate the
boundaries of national economic or political space.
– Under globalization, territory and borders role as a constraints of social
action and exercise of power is declining.
4.2. The Globalization Debate

A. The Hyper-Globalists

• Globalization defines a new epoch in human history; nation

states become obsolete (outdated) to regulate their economy
and boundary
• it’s a view that:
– privileges the economic over the political;
– market over the state;
– pre figures the decline of states
• Argue: economic globalization is bringing about
denationalization/de-territorialization of economies through
establishment of transnational networks of production, trade
and finance
– Considers national governments as simply transmission belts for
global capital
– Economic globalization is bringing about the decline of states
• Hyper-globalists believe:
– that the state simply becomes a site of global and
transnational flows; as opposed to the primary container
of socioeconomic activity;
• hence the legitimacy of states is undermined because the
governments become unable to control the trans boundary
movements and flows of goods, services, and ideas.
– The cumulative effects of these forces makes the state ineffective to
fulfill the demands of its citizens
– that economic globalization is generating a new pattern
of losers and winners in the international economy
• new international division of labor and the competitive nature
of the market brings new economic class of winners and losers
– (intensifies the already existing North-south gap)
• Globalization is imparting (conveying) new liberal
ideas and implant culture of modernization
replacing the traditional culture; creating uniform
cultural values.
B. The Skeptics
• Rejects the view of super globalist as a myth, flawed and
politically naïve
• Considers globalization as internationalization which is
dependent on the regulatory power of states
– States are central actors and agents of globalization playing
central role in shaping and regulating the economic activities
including the transboudnary flows of ideas, goods and peoples
• Undermine the view that the world is interconnected and
moving in to a village.
– Globalization is not more than regionalization that is being
manifested in the emergence of financial and trading blocs in
Western countries, north America, in Asia and to some extent in
Africa.
• Argue that the world has seen more interconnectedness at
regional level than at the global level.
– There is no free flow of goods, resources, technology and
finance at the global level, instead there is just a regional based
globalization
• Skeptics claim that:
– The Western region (Global North) is more integrated and
globalized than Africa and Asia (Global South).
• There does exist a trade relation between the developing nations
and the Western markets (agricultural commodities);
– this trade is not beneficial to the developing nations as the West sells
technology and financial capital to the developing world where the
developing world sells its relatively much cheaper agricultural
commodities.
• Doesn’t agree that globalization would help to
narrow the economic and technological gap
between the Global North and the Global South
• Globalization brings nothing new;
– it is just the crystallization of the already existing realities
of the world which has been marked by the Global North-
Global South gap reflected in terms of the deeply rooted
patters of inequality and hierarchy
C. The Transformationalist
• Views that globalization is a critical driving force behind
the rapid social, political and economic changes which are
reshaping societies and international politics
• The process of globalization is historically unprecedented;
– hence, governments and societies are having to adapt to a
world in which there is no longer a clear distinction between
the international and domestic affairs
• Core belief:
– globalization is reengineering of power, function and authority
of the state
• (even if the state has ultimate legal power to control events inside its
boundary, it can’t command sole control over transboudary issues,
actors, resource movements)
• Globalization is transforming/reconstituting the power
and authority of national governments.
• Rejects the claims of both hyper globalists and the
skeptics
• Rejects the hyper globalists view that claims globalization is the
end of sovereign state;
• Rejects the skeptics view that claims nothing much has changed.
– Instead, asserts that a new sovereignty regime is displacing
traditional conception of state power as an absolute
indivisible territorially exclusive power.
• In globalization, non state actors also exist; hence the
world is no longer seen as purely state centric (or
even primarily state managed).
– The public and private agencies at local, national, regional
and global level are actors in globalization
• This doesn’t mean that the power of national
government is necessarily diminished; it is just being
redefined, reconstituted and restructured.
• 4.3. Globalization and Its Impacts on Africa
• 4.4. Ethiopia in a Globalized World
4.5. Pros and Cons of Globalization
Pros:
• Expansion of democratic culture, HRs, and the protection of
historically minority and subaltern groups
• Innovations in science, medicine, and technology and ICT
leading to improvement of quality of life.
– Agricultural technological expansion leading to lifting out of millions
of people out of poverty
• Technological and social revolution significantly contributed to
advancement of human security and safety
– Free movement of goods, services, people, ideas, expertise,
knowledge and technology across national borders strengthen
international interdependence.
• This created a sense of global society/global citizenship and global civil
society
– Responsibility of states to protect their citizens and the shared
responsibility of the global society for protecting vulnerable groups
from HRs violations and victimization
• Rapid economic growth in some countries of the Global South
Cons:
• Western imperialism of ideas and beliefs eroding and intruding
the sovereignty of non-Western countries
• Non-western age old traditions and ways of life and cultural
values are being threatened
• Global capital and international financial institutions like WB and
IMF made free inroads to countries of the south influencing the
economic and political dynamics negatively
• With technological advancement, climatic, environmental and
technological risks have multiplied
• Globalization of risks
– (global terrorism religious fundamentalism, proliferation of small arms
and light weapons, arms and human trafficking)
• Stimulated the emergence of glocalization
– contributed to the rise of radical nationalism and ethnicity, which set
the context for the emergence of the era of identity and identity
conflicts
 In spite of the opportunities of globalization, countries of the
global south have faced multidimensional economic, political,
sociocultural, security and military challenges induced by
globalization
4.6. Defining Regionalism and Regional Integration
Region: a limited number of states linked together by a
geographical relationship and by a degree of mutual
interdependence
Regionalism: intensifying political and/or economic
processes of cooperation among states and other
actors in particular geographic regions;
– Refers to a sustained cooperation among governments, non
governmental organizations or the private sectors in three
or more countries for mutual gains
 Buzan identifies two types of regions based on two
different contexts:
A. Social context: here unit means nation and region is the set
of adjacent (nearby) nations
B. Political context: here unit is the state and region is ‘a
spatially coherent territory compose of two or more states’
• Regionalization: the growth of societal integration
within a given region, including the undirected
processes of social and economic interaction among
the units.
– It is a dynamic process;
– a continuing process of forming regions as geopolitical units,
as organized political cooperation within a particular group
of states, and/or as regional communities such as pluralistic
security communities
• Regionalism: the proneness of the governments and
people of two or more states to establish voluntary
associations and to pool together resources (material
and non material)in order to create common
functional and institutional arrangements.
– Best described as a process occurring in a given
geographical region by which different types of actors come
to share certain fundamental values and norms.
• These actors also participate in a growing network of economic,
cultural, scientific, diplomatic, political and military interactions
• Regionalism has mushroomed across all parts of
the world; however theories to explain these
developments are limited.
– Most theories have been developed under the
dominant European contexts
• (because largely regionalism is located there and the
successful story is mostly limited to Europe and later in
North America)
– The theories are considered as western approaches to
regionalism;
• they are hardly relevant to the development of regionalism
out side the west.
4.6.1. The Old Regionalism
• Regionalism is a voluntary and comprehensive process
• A predominantly post WWII phenomena; Emerged in late 1940s in Western
Europe
• Old regionalism lots much of its dynamism in Europe in the early 1970s and
gradually to the developing world
• There are two separate debates regarding old regionalism: European-centered
debate and the Developing world debate

I. Regional Integration in Europe and Beyond

• Old regionalism has its roots in the devastating experience of the interwar
nationalism and world war II.
– It is closely linked to the discussion about regional integration in Europe; particularly to
the formation of the European communities.
• Contrary to the teachings of mercantilism Post war scholars viewed nation-states
as the problem rather than the solution; hence they proposed regional
integration in order to achieve and consolidate peace and stability
– A series of initiatives were launched
• 1951 EEC European Coal and Steel Community;
• 1958 EEC European Economic community and EAEC European Atomic Energy community were
integrated in to the EC through the treaty of Rome.
• The influence of EU goes beyond being successful experiment in regionalization
and came to dominate the discourse on regionalization.
II. Regional Integration in Latin America and Africa
• Old regionalism is seen in Latin America and Africa, also in Asia and other
developing states
• Regionalism in the developing world is closely linked to colonialism/anti-
colonialism and the quest to facilitate economic development in the newly
independent states. (unlike the European regionalism which was more concerned
with regional integration)
• This was influenced by the structuralism tradition of economic development.
– focus was given to:
• development, state promoted industrialization and nation building via protectionism and import
substitution
• The rationale for regional cooperation and integration among less developed
states was to foster ‘structural transformation’ and the stimulation of productive
capacities (industrialization) where by investment and trading opportunities were
created.
– the structuralist school shifted its focus from economic integration as a means of peace
and political unification to regional economic cooperation/integration as a means for
economic development and state formation.
• This type of regionalism resulted the creation of LAFTA (Latin American Free Trade Association) in
1960.
• however, in spite of some early progress and lively theoretical discussions, old
regionalism in Latin America made little economic impact and was never
implemented on a larger scale
– Regionalism in Latin America did not materialize because of conflict and military
dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s.
• The major ideological influence on regional
cooperation and integration is embodied in the
founding principles of OAU and later AU.
• The major purpose of regionalization was to resist
colonial and postcolonial influence, protectionism
and realizing import substitution.
• Among the various state led regional organizations in
Africa were:
– CFA (Community of French Africa);
– EAC (East African Community) and
– SACU (Southern African Community Union) and
– SADCC (Southern Africa Development coordination
conference)
• (which was established against the influence of Apartheid and
external dependency)
4.6.2. New Regionalism
• Refers to a number of new trends and developments
such as:
– the spectacular increase in the number of regional trade
agreements
– an externally oriented and less protectionist type of
regionalism,
– an anti-hegemonic type of regionalism which emerged
from within the regions themselves instead of being
controlled by the superpowers,
• Refers to the rise of a more multi-dimensional and
pluralistic type of regionalism, which was not
primarily centered around trading schemes or
security cooperation and with a more varied
institutional design, and the increasing importance
of a range of business and civil society actors in
regionalization
4.7. Major Theories of Regional Integration
4.7.1. Functionalism
• Functionalists view regionalism as a functional
response by states to the problems that derived from
regional interdependence.
– Regionalism is seen as the most effective means of solving
common problems
• Regional organizations are built to cope up with one common
problem and spill over to other problems and areas of cooperation,
which will deepen integration among member states
– Spillover: a key explanation behind regionalism for functionalists
 Fiurrell identifies two types of spill overs that might lead to regionalism:
A. Functional spillover: cooperation in one area would broaden and
deepen to further areas
B. Political spillover: the existence of supranational institutions would
set in motion a self reinforcing process of institution building. In the
end, regionalism would occur
4.7.2. Neo-functionalism
• Emerged in the 1960s based on the works of Ernst Hass and Leon
Lindberg
• Neo-functionalism included clear departures from
transactionalism, federalism and functionalism; this makes it a
distinct and independent theoretical entity
 Neo functionalism vs. transactionalism:
– transactionalism defines integration as a condition and the attainment
of integration
• Is measured by the existence of a ‘security community’.
– Neo functionalists determine integration as a process
– EG: political integration is the process where political actors in several distinct national
settings are persuaded to shift their loyalties, expectations and political activities
towards a new center, which posses or demand jurisdiction over the preexisting national
states. The end result: a new political community, superimposed over the pre existing
one
• Neo functionalism focuses on political agency. Considers
integration as a process with special focus on political integration
• Spillover is another important concept for neo functionalists.
– According to Lindberg, spillover is a condition that a given action leads
to a certain goal and that arranges a condition for the creation of a
new action
• Spillover in regional integration: depends the process of integration
Functionalists and neo-functionalists presume that
cooperation across national borders particularly in
the economic field spreads out to other sectors and
this spillover finally leads to the formation of
supranational institutions and to the diminishing
role of the nation state.

• Karns and Mingst: functionalism is applicable at both

regional and global levels.
– They consider IGOs as functional institutions as the IGOs
have specific mandates, link to economic issues and
limited membership which is often related to geographic
region
• Thomas George: functionalism is a global approach
rather than a regional approach;
– neo-functionalism is derived from the functionalist
doctrine and was applied in a regional context with some
modification
A. Inter-governmentalism (liberal Inter-governmentalism)
• Focuses on the state in order for integrations to succeed
• Considers the state mainly as an actor in the international
system and the integration process to be a process in that
system (uses traditional IR perspective)
 Moravcsik: integration is a rational choice of state actors.
– Classifies the process of integration in to 3:
I. National Preference Formation
– Here the degree of integration depends on the interests of influential
domestic constituents exercising pressure over their governments.
» However, national preference formation regarding cooperation in FP and
Defense Policy is subject to geopolitical interests revolving around a
state’s ideological commitment
– Problem with this approach: IR has not given much weight to the domestic
level or the society in the state’s FP decisions
II. Interstate bargaining
III. Institutional choice
B. Supra Nationalism
• This is derived from neo functionalism
• Based on the works of Haas which focuses on
European integration.
• Hass first sees integration as a process led by elitist
groups (like leaders of industry associations or
political parties), who recognize a lack of
opportunities in pursuing a shared interest at the
domestic level and then push national governments
to transfer policy competence to a supranational
body.
– Once the supranational body is created, international
interdependence grows,
• and interest groups or political party leaders can shift their
loyalties away from national institutions by choosing to pursue
their interests through newly established international
institutions.
 Rosamund: shows increasingly autonomous role of
supra national institutions in promoting further
integration.
• He developed three mechanisms through which he
thought European integration processes:
I. Positive spillover effects
• Occurs when integration between states in a particular sector
incentives integration in other sectors too.
II. A transfer of allegiances from the national to the
supranational political arena
• This is a process where domestic interest groups shift their activities
from the domestic to the international realm
III. A technocratic automaticity
• A process where established supranational institutions develop an
interest of their own encouraging deeper and broader integration
4.8. Selected Cases of Regional Integration
• Regional integration across the world is highly influenced by its development in
Europe. (the idea of regional integration is Eurocentric)
Case 1: EU
• Began as EEC (European Economic Commission); underwent changes and
transformation creating common market, currency, institutional and policy
harmonization at last becoming EU; as one consolidated regional organization
• Continued to influence the experiment of regionalism in the rest of the world
Case 2: AU
• Evolved from OAU which was established to ensure the decolonization of all
African countries
• AU imitating EU was established to realize the unification of African markets
towards eventually political unification
• Since 2002 AU achieved a lot in terms of opening African Free Trade Areas, the
issuance of visas on arrival and the strengthening of regional organizations like
SADC, ECOWAS, COMESA and the EAC
Case 3: ASEAN
• Founded in 1967; the main motive for the integration was not economic goal
rather political and security motives(decolonization) led for the regional
solidarity;
• After the economic crisis of1997, the region has advanced its economic goals
and created AFTA in the region
4.9. Regionalization VS. Globalization and State
• The nature of interaction among regionalization,
globalization; and the state, on issues of economics
and security greatly differ.
• The relationship between regionalization and
globalization is more mixed in the case of economic
regionalism than it is to wards security regionalism
– In the international economy, globalization and
regionalization appear to push states in different
directions;
– but there is no major impetus (push) towards
globalization in the security arena except in the case of
nuclear issues
– Regionalization of security is not a universal trend like
the formation of economic regions
• The interaction between the three has various
forms based on the issues under consideration
• EG: the nature of interaction among the three on issues of
economic and security directly differ.
– Hence, it is vital to differentiate the issues before
addressing the nature of interaction.
• EG: assessing the complex relation between regionalization
and globalization:
– in the international economy, globalization and regionalization
appear to be pushing states in different directions
– but there is today no major impetus towards globalization in the
security arena, perhaps with the exception of nuclear issues. Thus,
regionalization of security is not a universal trend like the formation
of economic regions
4.10. The Relations between Regionalization and Globalization
• There are three possible options regarding the mutual relations between
regionalization and globalization:
A. convergent trends(regionalization as a component of globalization)
– By helping national economies to become more competitive in the world market,
regional integration will lead to multilateral cooperation on a global scale.
– The process of regional integration can be interpreted as part of the international
economic order
– Globalization my be expressed through regionalization
B. Divergent trends (regionalization as a challenge or response to globalization)
– Regionalization might stem from a reaction and challenges to the amorphous
undemocratic and inexorable economic rules of globalization
– The drive towards the formation of regions might be also motivated by the denial
of a single universal culture (and ideology) and the promotion of alternative or
pluralistic forms of social and political organizations other than the nation-states at
the regional level.
C. Overlapping trends (regionalization and globalization as parallel processes)
– World economy encompasses the trends of both regionalization and globalization
– International (global) security arena is more difficult to assesse the coexistence of
security communities and security complexes without an overall dimension of
global security
– Regionalization and globalization might act as parallel or overlapping processes in
the two issue areas of economics and security.
4.11. Regionalization, Globalization and the State
• Bringing the forces of nationalism and the possible roles of
the nation-state, we can get the following possible linkages
between regionalization, globalization and the state
1. nation-states oppose globalization (Divergent trends)
2. nationalism and the formation of new states are encouraged
by the forces of globalization (Convergent trends)
3. nation-states oppose the forces of regionalization (divergent
trends)
4. nationalism and the nation-states can be strengthened
through regionalism (convergent trends)
5. regionalization coexists with nationalism and with
globalization (overlapping trends)
6. nation-states mediate between trends of regionalization and
globalization (overlapping trends)
7. nation-states oppose globalization through regionalization
(divergent trends)