Regionalism vs Globalism. Is Regionalism a Threat to Globalization

 We live in a boundary-less global world where the barriers are diminishing owing to the mutual interdependence of states, and of course the technological advancements. However, the whole concept of globalization does have its fair share of limitations as well. In response to these faults, we have also witnessed a rise of new form of regionalism which has offset the weaknesses of the globalization in political, socioeconomic and cultural spheres, and how it can be viewed as a building block for a globalized world rather than a threat

Globalization is a product of increased interaction and mutual interdependence between different people, companies and even governmental and inter-governmental organizations – sharing a similar vision and goals. The growth fosters an increased penetration among economies which results in transnational issues like political, environmental, financial and economic issues which the state is indirectly a part of. The concept of globalization has faced serious criticism for it lacking a strong regulation in the worldly order and favoring only selective players and burdening everyone else with transnational problems.

On the contrary side, initially the whole concept of regionalism was somewhat vague. Regions cannot be solely confined on the basis of their territories whereas regions aren’t confined to geographical units but also extend to increased cooperation in specific areas like socio-economic factors, mutual concern for security and economic cooperation. The older version of regionalism was build on the narrative of cooperative hegemony resulting in a bipolarity of the world. However with time, regionalism was redefined and reintegrated with a narrative which was based on multipolarity giving a multidimensional approach and not only being confined to security, and economic cooperation among states, but also extends to other areas like environmental, sociocultural, trade, and other social issues. It also allows the non-state actors to actively participate in a specific level of global system promoting inclusion.

As far as economic cooperation is concerned, regionalism has been a powerful tool in economically empowering member-states through regional trade agreements, intensifying competition slowly by giving local industries fair share of time to adjust, lessening the trade

barriers among them, A classic example is that of European Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Economic policies cannot be violated by other members and they cannot impose sanctions on the other member states. Members states face least influence from external influences. On the contrary, in globalization, global organizational institutions like World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) propel liberalization of markets, and imposing restrictions on government to freely pursue their macroeconomic policies without any external influence. Globalized markets have high amount of uncertainty and risks involved as capital can be disinvested/or invested again quickly and the states might lose influence over economic development, and control over exchange, and consequently hold over economy.

Therefore, having regional pacts with the hegemonic powers reaps more benefits for smaller member states rather than hegemonic controlled free markets. It is not only areas dealing with flawed economic policies with external influence, but also other political and security concerns which globalization fails to address. The merits of regionalism are not restricted to economic cooperation through creation of RTAs, but effectively addresses concerns and struggles to bring a positive change in the global worldly order.

Globalization is somewhat selective rather than being inclusive protecting the vested interests of stronger states only, and make less developed states scapegoats in the hands of neo-liberalist values. Therefore, it led to regional organizations becoming more popular as they are specifically directed towards addressing the local issues and preventing external foreign influence. For instance, the reason for formulating Organization of African Unity (OAU) was to safeguard it African members by the hands of being manipulated by foreign invaders (something which globalization advocates). Despite the establishment of global organizational institutions, a deaf ear was turned to Somalian Crisis, and Rwandan Genocide. The formation of OAU has resulted in significant decline in interstate wars, and peace negotiations are being held in Sudan.

It is not just pertinent security matters which globalization has failed to address, but it has also failed in enforcement of a multilateral political legislation in the global system. For instance, Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change Conference came up with stringent regulations in a world where pollution has been made transnational by globalization. The state has no control over the residents health raising questions over the legitimacy of the government. Exposure to multicultural influences results in states losing control over external relations of societies. Standardization

through education, language, and in some cases, values, have received a great backlash as it threatens the cultural values.

As a response to cultural globalization, interstate and sub state regionalism has emerged to preserve cultural attributes by placing increasing in distinct cultural identity and the concept of regionalist parties. For instance, Parti Quebecois Bloc have retained the cultural values of Quebec as it is the only French speaking region in America. We have also witnessed Cultural regionalization in European based North America., Sub Saharan Africa, Northeast Asia and even Latin America preserving shared cultural values over shared global identity.

Globalization’s limitations have been offset by Regionalism’s strengths. However, that does not mean that the world is moving away from global unity and regionalism poses a threat to the global world order. New regionalism is a world order concept which builds upon globalization. Regionalism does advocate a regional identity over global identity, but could not replace the system in which it exists. Multilateral institutions hold regulations over the regional institutions, making it difficult for international multilateral systems and globalization to be abolished. Moreover, the fruits of regionalism have had positive impact rather than negative. For instance, European Union has initiated formal interrogational talks with East Asian countries, and held Asia-European Meetings – promoting cooperation, economic and political stability through regionalism.

Hence, Regionalism is building bloc of achieving global peace, and could act as a supplement to globalization and creation of a cohesive global order rather than posing threat to it.

BREXIT - Is European Union at the brink of disintegration?

 

UK and the European Union has been heavily dependent on each other regarding trade relations and strategic defense, but lately there has been a complex interplay of different factors which acted as a catalyst behind UK’s decision to exit the European Union (EU).

The rising Euroscepticism is one of the driving forces which led to the outpouring of the votes in favor of Brexit. In fact, the growing populism was one of the major reasons which led to a referendum in the UK in the first place. Euroscepticism dates to the time when Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of UK, had been in power and clearly implied that the ‘UK is only linked to European Union and not combined.’ This ideology was further strengthened when citizens of UK started discrediting the effectiveness of EU over its flawed immigration and border control policies. EU was backlashed for enforcing regulations upon the member states without even analyzing the additional costs which were being incurred. Moreover, the decision-making authority rested in the hands of bureaucracy not even residing in the UK and oblivious to the trends and concerns which the public was raising. To take advantage of the situation, the Eurosceptic politicians were shaping anti-EU opinion in the minds of the citizens by enlightening them of the opportunity costs of investing their budget in the national health care instead of EU. Consequently, his had provoked anti EU sentiments among the masses.

The perceived threat of losing sovereignty and national identity also contributed in the decision to vote out. As per the public opinion, the public was more affiliated with Britain than EU, and had persuaded that they should exercise stringent border controls in order to tackle the migration crisis. To add fuel to the fire, Euroseptic members had supported Brexit and justified their stance by expressing their opinion that sharing political powers with the European Union had posed a serious threat to the sovereignty, and the dire need of hour is to put a restraint on the rapid immigration.

In addition to this, the older age group in Britain had their own insecurities as they felt alienated due to the boundry-less region. They were somewhat socially conservative and heavily criticized immigration policies of the union of grounds that it was having an adverse effect on the economy, and due to an increase in a diverse and skilled work force, the demand for local labor was comparatively low. Moreover, the financial crunch due to euro crisis reflected EU’s poor performance. Furthermore, people who voted in favor of Brexit, being less educated, did not have a sound knowledge of the economic repercussions which were to follow after Brexit.

Therefore, there were multifaceted which contributed in the Brexit, and led to people vote in favor of it.

Britain leaving the European Union did pose a threat to the European Union in a sense that there was an increase trend of populist narrative in the region posing a serious threat on the dominant position of EU, and resulting in an increase in the ideological differences. The passport free movement across the member states of EU had lessened a strong check and balance on the internal movement. Moreover, the union failed to devise a strategy to deal with migrants.

To exacerbate things further, increase political pressure was put on countries like Germany, Poland and Hungary to put a restraint on the immigration, and Brexit was viewed to have a spillover effect in the region and the Sword of Damocles lays on the European Union as it might disintegrate if the anti-migration and populist narratives are strengthened. EU had already suffered the loss of its biggest military power, but we can also not undermine the role of Brexit in being a blessing in disguise for the European union - unifying the member states instead of dividing them and disintegrating the European Union. Member states have witnessed the economic and social repercussions of Brexit which Britain has been facing since Brexit and have no intention to leave the Union. Moreover, after Britain’s exit, France and Germany one of the most influential member states, and less influential member states cannot afford to oppose them. Brexit has brought all of the member states on one page regarding pertinent matters like defense, mitigating conflicts with Russia, and competing against global players like China and India by capturing the global market, enhancing collective security, and striving towards the fulfillment of the objectives laid down by the EU.

Therefore, European Union is not on the brink of disintegration rather maintains its dominant position in the region. However, it should not allow the EU to be content with its working and must bring reforms which could help tackle the growing populist, and antimigration narratives and mitigating anti-EU sentiments among the member states to prevent another exit.

EU must delegate decision making authority to member states in economic matters to ensure democratic legitimacy and allow discretion to the members in such matters instead of interfering in them. Moreover, it must have inclusive policies, and acknowledge and respect the cultural differences among the member states instead of aiming to unify them as one. The union must also not only keep itself informed of the changing trends and public opinion, but should also respect it and address the concerns instead of going against them and digging its own grave by sowing hatred among the masses for ignorance. The Union must also devise policies which strengthen the economic and financial position of weaker member states. It is also advised that the European Union devises a sound plan of action to dampen the migration crisis by keeping a strong check and balance over the border controls.

Contrary to the popular notion, the European is not at a brink of disintegration, and has continued to maintain its established hegemony. The member states of the Union have witnessed the repercussions and challenges which the Britain is facing, after its exit, and would think twice before taking such a drastic step. Several contributing factors like threat to sovereignty, economic challenges, growing Euroscepticism, flawed migration policies of the EU propelled Brexit, but Brexit has been a blessing in disguise for the European Union by uniting the member states rather than dividing them, but measures must be taken by the European Union in the shape of structural reforms which could prevent another exit and deter the threat of disintegration.