The Contemporary World

1
Asian Regionalism

Asian Regionalism

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Differentiate between regionalization and globalization

2. Identify the factors leading to a greater integration of the Asian region
3. Analyze how Different Asian states confront the challenges of globalization
and regionalization.

Globalization and Regionalization

Globalization is the process of dividing an area into smaller segments called
regions. In business, regionalization is used as a management tool.

The development of globalization and regionalization reemerged during the

1980s and heightened after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. These two
processes are contradicting - the nature of globalization is global while
regionalization is naturally regional.

The Regionalization of the world system and economic activity undermines

the potential benefits coming out from a liberalized global economy. This is
because regional organization preferred regional partners over the rest.
Regional organizations respond to the states attempt to reduce the perceived
negative effects of globalization.

Regionalization is a sort of counter-globalization. In the Survey report in

2007, the financial times revealed that majority of Europeans consider that
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globalization brings negative effects to their societies. Policy makers and
scholars think that globalization can be countered what Jacoby and Meunier
called managed globalization; it refers to all attempts to make globalization
more palatable to citizens.

Globalization is the process of international integration emerging from the

interchange of world perspectives, products, ideas, and other aspects such
as technology etc. But as we have learned from previous discussions there
are many controversies about and defining them is complicated.

There are some differences of regionalization and globalization. Like in

nature, globalization promotes the integration of economies across state
borders all around the world but regionalization is precisely the opposite
because it is dividing the area into smaller segments. In terms of market,
globalization enables many companies to trade on international so it
permits free market but in regionalized system monopolies are more likely
to develop.

The gradual development of Interregional relations such as the Association

of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), or the South
American Trade bloc, Mercosur. On this Regionalization and the
development of interregionalism would indeed be global in nature. As held
(Held et al, 2005) claimed that the new regionalism is not a barrier to
political globalization but, compatible with it if not an indirect
encouragement (p77).

The motivations for the recent regionalization in Asia as other regions in the
world cannot be secluded from one another. It is a complex mixture of
factors.. One of the reasons behind regionalism is the concern security which
is to ensure peace and stability. Confidence building can be enhanced
through economic cooperation within a region. The ASEAN and the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) are regional organizations that seek solids
security in Asia through cooperation.
 The Contemporary World
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Asian Regionalism

Huntingtion (1996), on the contrary, believed that culture and identity guide
regionalization. As he put it, “In the post Cold War world, states increasingly
define their interests in civilizational terms” (p30). For him, culture and
identity are civilizations. He identified nine major civilizations: Western,
Latin America, African, Islamic, Sinic, Hindu, Orthodox, Buddhist, and
Japanese. He argued that international organizations like the EU or Mercosur
share a common culture and identity and far more successful than NAFTA
whose member states belong to different civilizations. One could argue that
the possibility for such clash can be strong in Asia because many of those
civilizations are, at least can be found in region.

In Africa, the principal challenge facing transitional societies is how to

articulate and aggregate innovative partnerships that offer a prototype for a
new kind of the integration, globalization and governance.

In Germany, globalization offers speculators in the universal capital markets a

more extensive scope of venture openings, higher profits for investment funds and
more portfolio expansion. But with these increased opportunities also come
additional risks. The first is financial instability. The global economy has suffered
several costly financial crises over the last decade. Diving resource costs,
significant episodes of trade showcase instability, an emergency in developing
markets started by occasions in Mexico, and the fall of a few noteworthy money
related establishments, in mechanical and developing business sector nations alike,
all underscore the real shortcomings of our framework

The second risk is marginalization. While a few nations are bridling the powers of
globalization to quicken economic progress, others obviously are not. Nations that
are not able join in the development of world trade or attract in huge measures of
private venture risk being left by the global economy. What's more, the nations at
most serious danger of being marginalized or underestimated are those most
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 needing the trade, speculation and development that globalization could bring.
This raises the prospect of a widening gulf between countries that are able to take
advantage of globalization and those that are left by the wayside. It knows that a
financial crisis, can become worldwide in a flash. And it must not disregard the
risk that marginalization entails for the world's geopolitical equilibrium.

The third risk appears outside the financial circle yet merits all our
consideration: can our national, our local societies -, for example, the
extremely lively one here in Bavaria- - safeguard their one of a kind esteem
and conventional inventiveness, when the powers of globalization appear to
point toward expanding social homogeneity?

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Chapter 2 of the book: The Contemporary World”: Aldama, Prince Kennex, pp. 34-35
2. May 28, 2018
3. Regionalism (2018, May 29). Retrieved from
http:/www.slideshare.net/ananthaprabhu31/regionalization-vs-globalisation

4. Satalkar, B. (2010 John W. Forje (2010) Facing the challenges of globalization and
regional integration: problems and prospects for Africa at the dawn of the third
millennium, African Identities, 2:1, 7-35, DOI: 10.1080/1472584042000240610. (May
29, 2018) Retrieved from
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/spmds9701