REGIONALISM Flashcards
What is Regionalism?
Regionalism is the practice of coordinating social, economic or political activities with a geographical region comprising several states.
European Union
> key institutions
: intergovernmental and supranational.
: legislative and judiciary
INTERGOVERNMENTAL:
European Council - represented by the official head of state, set political agenda, resolve issues, and sign treaties.
Council of Ministers - body of ministers accountable to their own governments, system of qualified majority voting, main decision making body of the EU.
SUPRANATIONAL
European Commission - executive body, new laws are proposed and implemented, has power to enforce EU law and may take states to ECJ if laws aren’t followed.
LEGISLATIVE
European Parliament - members elected every 5 years by EU citizens, role is to scrutinise laws and has power of EU budget.
JUDICIARY
European Court of Justice - comprised of judges who make sure EU law is being applied and interpreted the same way in all member states, members may be taken to court if law is not obeyed.
Key EU treaties - timeline
TREATY OF ROME 1957
THE MAASTRICHT TREATY 1993
TREATY OF NICE 2003
TREATY OF LISBON 2009
Treaty of Rome 1957 - established the European Economic Community, beginning of common market and EU foundations.
The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 - four freedoms established: people, goods, capital , services. Institutions strengthened.
Treaty of Nice 2003 - expansion eastwards after the fall of the Iron Curtain. In 2004, 10 new countries joined, 2 more in 2007.
Treaty of Lisbon 2009 - modernising key institutions by actually increasing EU power and giving it a more distinct voice on the world stage.
What is federalism?
> how does it fit the EU?
Theory that a regional bloc should be represented by a centralised federal body, advocating supra-nationalism, deepening integration.
> prevents state-centrism, as states have pooled their sovereignty. However not all states have adopted the euro, and can remove themselves - Brexit.
What is functionalism?
> how does it fit the EU?
Theory explains that there are functional reasons for states to cooperate and integrate, blocs come together to serve specific functions.
> EU’s formation, has served different functions at different stages, starting with trade of coal and steel.
What is neofunctionalism?
> how does it fit the EU?
Theory explains that regions do cooperate for functional means, but this also comes with spill-over, in which integration in one area provides conditions for integration in another separate area.
> The EU develops new policies when there is a functional need. For instance, during periods of terrorist attacks, there was a push for a longer term aim of creating a unified European identity.
Is the EU a superpower / a major global actor?
ARGUMENTS FOR
Economic power - world’s third largest economy, largest single market in the world, investment in developing world, largest donor of aid, trades across continents.
Structural power - member/observer state of G20, G7, WTO, UN, WB, and IMF. Highly influential regarding environmental issues and human rights.
Soft power - influential over other states, with states keen to join. Military capacity is limited, but as a liberal institution, it’s preference for soft power does not make it weaker - for instance american military intervention has been counterproductive.
Is the EU a superpower / a major global actor?
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
Military power - relies heavily on NATO and the US for defence, limited non-military engagement within a world which values hard power.
Lack of cohesion - damages its unity, with powerful and prominent members not being aligned with the rest of the bloc, doesn’t have clear foreign policy.
Economic power - major victim of financial crises, with less wealthy states running up significant debts and requiring large austerity measures - Greece.
Ways in which Regionalism is a building block to Globalisation:
- organises the world into manageable segments, effectively creating a ‘global village’, which enhances globalisation.
- states tend to join blocs to amplify their voices on the world stage, which shows that states want to make the most out of cooperating in the global network.
- makes global governance more efficient as member states tend to be similar.
- regionalism is globalisation on a smaller scale, involves the same processes of multilateralism, cooperation, and trade.
Ways in which Regionalism is a stumbling block to Globalisation:
- blocs may alienate themselves from the global system by using protectionist policies, that impinge on the free movement of global trade.
- regional egoism, concerned with their own region only.
- dividing the world into segments isn’t compatible with globalisation, as it diminishes the idea of global civic society.
- blocs are all very different in character, takes away from full potential of global governance.
