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Hitesh Jhanji, Lovely Professional University Unit 23 : Regionalism : EU and NAFTA

Unit 23 : Regionalism : EU and NAFTA Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
23.1 India and the European Union
23.2 North American Free Trade Agreement
23.3 Summary
23.4 Key-Words
23.5 Review Questions
23.6 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Understand India and the European Union (EU).
• Discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Introduction

Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three
constituents of the international commercial system (along with multilateralism and unilateralism).
It refers to the expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with the creation and
implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a
geographical region.
The first coherent regional initiatives began in the 1950s and 1960, but they accomplish little, except
in Western Europe with the establishment of the European Communities. Some analysts call these
initiatives "old regionalism". In the late 1980s, a new bout of regional integration (also called "new
regionalism") began and still continues. A new wave of political initiatives prompting regional
integration took place worldwide during the last two decades, while, in international trade, after the
failure of the Doha round, regional and bilateral trade deals have mushroomed.
The European Union can be classified as a result of regionalism. The idea that lies behind this increased
regional identity is that as a region becomes more economically integrated, it will necessarily become
politically integrated as well. The European example is especially valid in this light, as the European
Union as a political body grew out of more than 40 years of economic integration within Europe. The
precursor to the EU, the European Economic Community (EEC) was entirely an economic entity.
Definition

Joseph Nye defined international region “as a limited number of states linked by a geographical relationship
and by a degree of mutual interdependence”, and (international) regionalism as “the formation of interstate
associations or groupings on the basis of regions”. This definition, however, was never unanimously
accepted, and some analysts noted, for example, that the plethora of regional organizations founded
at the initiative of developing countries had not fostered the rapid growth of regionalism in the Third
World. Other authors, such as Ernst B. Haas, stressed the need to distinguish the notions of regional
cooperation, regional system, regional organization and regional integration and regionalism.

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