The Current Development of a Regionalism

At the present stage, profound changes are taking place in the entire system of international relations. Their essential feature is globalization, of which economic and political integration is a part. The end of the cold war gave a great impetus to deepening the integration of the world economy, strengthening its supranational institutions and globalization. Since the states of the modern world differ in scale and level of socio-economic development, it can be assumed that the results of the impact of globalization on individual countries and groups of countries are not the same.

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According to the lectures given during the summer school, it can be understood that if earlier the role of regionalism as a driver of globalization and economic integration was relatively high, now, in the current conditions, it is becoming a key source of impulses to liberalize the world economy and increase its openness. This is confirmed by the active creation by developing countries of new integration platforms in all corners of the Global South, whether in Africa, South America, or Eurasia. The concept of regionalism itself, according to the lectures, is various forms of socio-cultural and political self-identification of territorial communities that manifest themselves in ideas, moods, actions, and intentions aimed at preserving the identity of the region or increasing its status in the system of nation-states. Furthermore, as the professors explained in their lectures, it is impossible to move towards regionalization without reaching an agreement between the key forces in the respective regions, for example: between the US and the EU in the case of the Transatlantic Partnership; India and China in the framework of BRICS+; between China, Japan and ASEAN in relation to GRP; India and the USA in the framework of the Indo-Pacific Partnership; the USA and China in APEC; Here also was noted as another model of globalization, projects such as BRICS+ or “One Belt, One Road”. I also want to mention the “Asian concept”, the difference between regionalism in Europe and Asia, and the development of regionalism after Covid 19, which were new for me, and I have learned them through those lectures.

It was interesting to know about the EU enlargement policy during the conflict period between Russia and Ukraine and its possible consequences. The growing influence of regionalism on the world economy can change not only the architecture of the global economy but also the foundations and principles of globalization. The desire of the leading economies of the Global South to increase their economic presence around the world is gradually pushing competition between the leading powers into the background, which may lead to the formation of alternative approaches to globalization. In addition, the growing economic inequality, and the decline in the growth rate of the world economy have become additional incentives for the search for alternative concepts of economic development and globalization.

A lot of useful information was learned during the lecture about the problems of regionalism in the African continent. In the current past, many African regional agreements have been circulated, and in this regard, according to the professor, security has become a key feature in the recent history of regionalism on the continent.

Of course, I would like to mention separately, the analysis and the different views from the professor regarding the January events in Kazakhstan. Because of the informative presentation, participants from other countries learned more about our country, and some even heard about it for the first time.

Conclusion 

As the professors noted, today the old political structures can no longer cope with the whole mass of problems of an extremely complicated society. And in this regard, regionalism offers its conditions, taking the initiative of the local government, which is directly related to the interests of the local subject of public law. As I understand various scientific schools studying international relations interpret the phenomenon of modern regionalism in different ways and offer different theories describing it. And these theories will appear more and more, because of understanding the problems associated with the implicit processes of globalization and regionalization which is a necessary need for today and, especially, tomorrow. 

Once again, great thanks for this opportunity to learn new concepts and specific information which I will illustrate in my dissertation.