The debate on Global International Relations has strongly advocated transcending the divide between Western and non-Western International Relations (IR) by focusing on the global origins and contributions of the key concepts in the discipline (International Studies Review, 2016). The conceptual pluralism advocated by Global IR thinking is particularly relevant to studying regionalism. Accordingly, Global Regionalism would entail not only including cases from the Global South in the study of regionalism but also globally applying concepts and theories derived from the non-Western context (Bilgin & Futák-Campbell, 2021). Such an approach challenges conventional thinking regarding regional integration and cooperation, which has been dominated by theorising the European experience of regional integration (Iroulo & Lenz, 2022). By capturing the complex and multidimensional features of regionalism processes around the world, global regionalism needs to transcend the lack of cross-fertilisation between IR and the various area studies. However, these multiple strands also pose a challenge for congruence. Depending on the setting and perspective, regionalisms can mean something different, and attempts to theorise regionalism have not overcome this fragmentation. The innovative power of global regionalism might precisely be due to the catch-all vagueness of the term, which enables it to be crafted without restraints. However, for analytical studies and comparative works, the blurriness can constitute a serious problem. If we want to analyse and compare regionalisms from a global perspective, we need to agree on what we are looking at and what we are looking for. Given the numerous fields and approaches of global regionalism, a plurality of meaningful definitions is inevitable within global regionalisms. It is, therefore, essential to be explicit about the features of regions and the derived term regionalism. Regionalism is multidimensional, and thus analytical and theoretical eclecticism is due, but in view of this fragmentation, this essay will seek to provide conceptual inroads as building blocks to advance a global approach without compromising coherence.

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Essay 36: Key Concepts for Global Regionalism: Towards a Common Language for an Eclectic Field

  • Frank Mattheis

摘要

The debate on Global International Relations has strongly advocated transcending the divide between Western and non-Western International Relations (IR) by focusing on the global origins and contributions of the key concepts in the discipline (International Studies Review, 2016). The conceptual pluralism advocated by Global IR thinking is particularly relevant to studying regionalism. Accordingly, Global Regionalism would entail not only including cases from the Global South in the study of regionalism but also globally applying concepts and theories derived from the non-Western context (Bilgin & Futák-Campbell, 2021). Such an approach challenges conventional thinking regarding regional integration and cooperation, which has been dominated by theorising the European experience of regional integration (Iroulo & Lenz, 2022). By capturing the complex and multidimensional features of regionalism processes around the world, global regionalism needs to transcend the lack of cross-fertilisation between IR and the various area studies. However, these multiple strands also pose a challenge for congruence. Depending on the setting and perspective, regionalisms can mean something different, and attempts to theorise regionalism have not overcome this fragmentation. The innovative power of global regionalism might precisely be due to the catch-all vagueness of the term, which enables it to be crafted without restraints. However, for analytical studies and comparative works, the blurriness can constitute a serious problem. If we want to analyse and compare regionalisms from a global perspective, we need to agree on what we are looking at and what we are looking for. Given the numerous fields and approaches of global regionalism, a plurality of meaningful definitions is inevitable within global regionalisms. It is, therefore, essential to be explicit about the features of regions and the derived term regionalism. Regionalism is multidimensional, and thus analytical and theoretical eclecticism is due, but in view of this fragmentation, this essay will seek to provide conceptual inroads as building blocks to advance a global approach without compromising coherence.