Regionalism Flashcards
Who said ‘regionalism is out, sovereignty back in’
-Andrés Malamud.
What does increasing economic interdependence lead to?
-Leads to ideas of standardisation of quality, e.g. for goods and produce which facilitates better trading between states.
How did the EU influence other regionalist blocs economically?
- The model of the EU was emulated in 1994 with the West African Economic and Monetary Union.
- This represents one of few regional currency unions globally. (it is the CFA Franc, pegged to the Euro).
- This shows the EU as a good model of regionalism as it has promoted trade within countries apart on the Union, for example the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.
How does the model of the EU promote neo-colonialism?
- The EU is based off Western views of free-market trade all over the world.
- This is turn led to the Eurozone crisis as distinctly economically and culturally different countries were included within the same monetary union.
What is an example of the EU not being a good economic model?
(clue A____ Bevis)
- ASEAN is considered as one of the most successful and distinctive regional organisations outside of the EU.
- However, in it’s ‘2025 Blueprint’ it did not include the desire for a monetary union.
- This goes against the EU’s worldwide free-market economy and instead pursues a ‘closed’ system of trading.
- Overall, the EU economic model is not attractive to all and as a result does not always reflect a good model of representation.
What is an example of juxtaposing nation philosophies in the EU?
- Greece is credited as being a major part of the Eurozone crisis, it has low tax collection rate and high public spending- this meant it was consistently borrowing to fuel its expenditures.
- Countries such as Germany and Sweden have much different philosophies. Having higher taxes meaning books are more easily balanced.
What is the argument that the makeup of the EU is not replicable?
Give an example.
- The makeup of the EU means that there is not one hegemon in the organisation. Countries such as France, Germany Spain and previously the UK have relatively strong economies and as a result it is not likely that one country can dominate proceedings.
- However, some organisations may be dominated by one single nation-state as they are the most powerful nation in that region.
- For example Brazil makes up 70% of MERCOSUR (South American regionalist bloc). The economic diversity of different regions can mean that the EU model of regionalism can not work.
What appears to be required for the success of regional monetary unions?
-Pre-existing similar approach to fiscal policy
Or
-Transfer of fiscal policy making to supranational regional institutions.
How is it unlikely the EU models of culture and human rights will not be adopted in other regionalism?
- Divergence in many countries means that cultural differences inhibit the implementation of universal policies.
- For example within the Arab League there is a monarchy in Saudi Arabia and an authoritarian regime in Egypt.
- Hard to implement based on EU model as differences in culture mean that the EU model is not able to be implemented.
How has the EU been effective as a model of regionalism in terms of security?
- Part of the reason the US helped in the forming of the EU was to prevent France and Germany entering future conflict by ensuring their interdependence.
- Similarly regional organisations such as the Shanghai Co-Operation Organisation (SCO) have emerged to ensure security of members such as Russia and Uzbekistan.
What are some weaknesses of the SCO?
-China have been seen to use the organisation as an economic regional organisation. Using it to promote its Silk Road Initiative.
Define what regionalism is.
-Creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a geographical region.
What are the different types of regionalism?
- Economic regionalism; focuses on financial and trade aspects of regional cooperation. A vast majority of states belong to a regional trade bloc.
- Security regionalism; regional organisations look to achieve peace and stability. One method of doing this is through interconnectedness making war impossible. The other is to achieve peace through protection from a common enemy.
- Political regionalism; states that share same values look to protect these values and enhance voice in world affairs.
What are some examples of TNCs being extremely powerful?
- Apple has $200 billion in cash reserves, slightly less than the GDP of the republic of Ireland which has 4.5 million inhabitants.
- In 2012 Samsung had a $196 billion revenue which was more than the GDP of Morocco which has 32 million citizens.
How does regionalism look to limit the power of TNCs?
- As states are grouped together it means that countries will not try to undercut each other in the hopes of gaining contracts with TNCs.
- TNCs do not benefit from ‘shopping around’ for states for best deal.
How does corporation tax fluctuate in the EU and how does this undermine the power of the regional bloc?
- In Belgium corporation tax is 33%
- In Bulgaria it is 10%
- The unharmonised nature of corporation tax at an EU level means that TNCs can infact choose where to work even within a regional bloc.
How does the EU give smaller states a bigger voice?
What’s an example?
-Smaller states that are grouped in regional organisations are more able to stand up to large TNCs as the EU is very significant in talks such as Conference of the Parties (COP).
- For example the EU played a significant role at COP26 and was one of over 190 countries which agreed to the consensus of the COP26 negotiations.
- resulted in the completion of the Paris Agreement rulebook which hoped to keep the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees C.
What is an example of the EU allowing smaller states to trade?
- A small state like Malta with 430,000 inhabitants is unlikely to negotiate a very equal trade deal with large states such as China with its 1.3 billion citizens.
- However access to the EU markets gives Malta the ability to trade with 508 million citizens of Europe, with regulated tax and customs. For example being able to trade fairly with Germany for cars and France for cheese.
What did Francis Fukuyama say about liberal regional institutions?
- He said they were the end of history.
- They are the end of political evolution and are ultimate political system.
