Journal articles on the topic 'Region, regionalism, regional policy'

Regionalism’s studies in the context of current political events remain relevant for the academic field. However, most of these studies are focused on regionalism, concentrated within one territorial-administrative unit. At the same time, in the European space there is a phenomenon, when regionalism is dispersed over the territory of several regions. Examples of such a world are Transylvania, Silesia, the Basque Country, etc. However, today in political science there is no theoretical framework for such cases. This article offers a conceptualization of this phenomenon, which is proposed to be called supra-regionalism and a typology of supra-regionalisms in the modern world is proposed. Supra-regionalism is a political movement that has a territorial base in several administrative-territorial units, and converts aspects of regional identity (ethnic, economic, political, etc.) into political action, the goal of which is to achieve/preserve the special status of the regions it represents. In the course of the study, a number of criteria were proposed to assess the effectiveness of supra-regionalism. These include its entire integrity - that is, the uniformity of electoral support within the region, as well as the presence of mechanisms for interregional integration and representation of the supra-region. These parameters were developed based on the concept of multilevel control. Among these parameters: political representation of supra-regionalism, constitutional foundations of identity, non-electoral representation, special meetings, representation in Brussels, cross-border regions, participation in European projects. Based on a low-casus comparison of seven European supra-regionalisms, conclusions are drawn regarding the consistency of supra-regionalism in Europe at the moment. First of all, it should be noted that the main (and almost the only) mechanism for the integration of supra-regionalism is party organizations. In general, supra-regionalisms use other opportunities, including the opportunities provided by the European Union for joint representation and implementation of policy in the interests of the supra-region. Moreover, there is a tendency towards a more effective disappearance of supra-regionalisms in the European Union.

The complex issue of regions, treated by the new region science (which the author calls regionomics), implies the need to introduce certain distinctions for analytical purposes. Thus the article determines the requests of regional movements for political self-determination (= regionalist ideologies) as regionalism; attempts of the centralized Unitarian state to implement decentralization (or any other attempt of the state to introduce administrative divisions) as regionalization, and the region as the basic analytical concept of the regionomics. Experience points to the strong interaction between these three categories. Sometimes, a common name is used for them - regional (or regionalistic) corpus, that is regionality. To round up the regional issues, the regional policy, that is the strategy of regional development, should be added to these categories. The main goal of this paper is to clear up and define as correctly as possible the basic regionomic notions, to create not only an adequate analytical apparatus which would serve to explain the current regional phenomena and processes, but to present a basis for the policy which could successfully come to grips with the solution of the regionality problem (which has all the characteristics of a developmental, strategic problem). In addition, the paper also offers some terminological specifications (region, and not regija!). The paper presents answers to numerous questions: what are regions: an idea and/or reality? How are they characterized along the following dimensions: territoriality and institutionalization; objective criterion: homogeneity and functionality subjective criterion: identity. How do regions change and develop? By state interventions, restructuring of economy or through new discourses political, cultural or scientific? In the first part of the paper, the author also discusses the following issues: growth of a region as a social process region and power; regional separatism: economic and political; informatics revolution and regional structure (region versus network); global and European frameworks of the regionalization of Serbia. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the issues of institutional arrangements (optimal degree of the /de/centralization of a state), regional politics (regional goals in conflict, arbitrating, /de/centralization; aggregate efficiency versus inter-regional equality; generative regional model: "exceptions" from the "classic" rule: regional development contributes to the national-economic development; prosperity of the territory versus prosperity of the population; inter-regional equality: tendency for redistribution; tendency for centralization; goals of the policy of regional development; spatially coordinated regional-political target system; spatially non-coordinated regional-political target system; instruments of regional policy; evaluation of the results of regional policy; new regional policy from the end of the past and at the beginning of this century) and strategies of regional development (primarily, the strategy of achieving the goals of the region).

The US, China and Japan are often portrayed as three giant states dominating the region of East Asia in perpetual potential conflict. This article proposes that such assessments should be tempered in the light of changing regional and global dynamics and, in particular, in view of the growing centrality of the region of East Asia itself for foreign policy agendas. Adopting a framework underpinned by the concept of strategic regionalism, this article focuses upon the developing collective identification of region, and assesses the possibility for joint leadership in East Asia.

AbstractWhile the United States is an important Asia-Pacific actor, its engagement with the region is complex and often difficult. Not only must US regionalism balance the diverse requirements of an ambitious policy agenda, but also US policy norms and priorities often clash with those of other regional actors. This has important implications for the capacity of the United States to provide regional leadership. Recent years have seen growing policy convergence between the United States and other Asia-Pacific actors, particularly in economic terms, but US regionalism continues to feature competition alongside collaboration.

AbstractThis paper will examine the various ways in which the regional imaginary has been conceptualized and developed in maritime Southeast Asia, primarily focussing on Indonesia. Utilizing the recent debate on the notion of a ‘Postcolonial International Relations,’ this paper examines the role of imperialism and the colonial experience on the development of Indonesian ‘ideas’ of region and regionalism. This paper is structured into four sections. First of all, it explores the link between postcolonial theory and regionalism studies. Second, it takes into account early ideas of regionalism in the post-independence era. This includes President Sukarno's ‘neutralist’ foreign policy culminating in Indonesia's hosting of the Bandung Conference as well as President Suharto's endorsement of ASEAN. The third and final section examines Indonesia's foreign policy orientation and practices in the post-authoritarian period, particularly under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. With its embrace of democracy in the post-New Order era, the concluding discussion suggests that Indonesia appears to be increasingly prepared to expand its regional engagement concentrically beyond the immediate Southeast Asian region. The question of the ‘imperial’ role of the US – which has its own foreign policy ambitions in the region – is instrumental in this regard, and can be usefully understood from a postcolonial framework.

In Europe over the past decades, the processes of regionalization are actively occurring - the redistribution of the state's power competencies to a supranational or subnational (regional) level. The problems of competitiveness of the regions come to the fore, the increase of which is possible when using not only economic, but also local historical, sociocultural, ecological and other features. "New regionalism" differs from traditional development in conditions of multipolarity of the world, openness, formation "from below", participation of non-state and subnational actors. The new regionalism is a triple regionalism that takes into account not only the economic, but also the socio-cultural and environmental aspects. The advantage in competitiveness is given to regions and territorial communities, where local socio-cultural communications are taken into account most of all. The new European regionalism does not mean abandoning the nation state, but increasing the efficiency of regional development at the expense of human energy. As you know, Western Europe has limited energy and other resources. Therefore, in the global competition, the European Union, from the beginning of its formation, relied on the effective use of human resources. Its potential is significantly increased if a local comfortable environment is created that takes into account the sociocultural features of the territorial communities. Turning to the analogy, this means, for example, for Ukraine, that the people of Galicia do not feel discomfort in their sociocultural environment, and the inhabitants of the Donbass or Chernigov region in their own. Unlike the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that carried out administrative reforms during the period of geopolitical and geo-economic transformation, Ukraine could not realize it in a quarter of a century of independence. A decade ago, the American model of enlarged territorial units was taken as the basis of the territorial administrative reform, now the Polish model dominates in the absence of the state's financial capacity to reform, but with the participation of local businesses in the formation of territorial communities. As a result, the fundamental goal of the reform in improving the manageability of the territories is violated, which is a threat to the Ukrainian statehood.

This article addresses the extent to which metropolitan regions have continued to fragment and grown more disparate. We ask, why have comprehensive institutions not taken root to mitigate metropolitan fragmentation and how can we better understand its persistence? We call attention to the insufficiently understood and integrative role of public authorities as functional for fragmented metropolises and their continued splintering. That functionality is explained by a “regional paradox,” which states that centrifugal forces from autonomous, competitive local governments push against metropolitan integration while centripetal pressures for regional policy coherence pull toward it. The result is the embodiment of both tendencies in what we call fragmented regionalism—a condition where local autonomy is largely left intact while public authorities are able to manage selective regional pressures. We find that metropolitan regions have become more fragmented and more unequal. This pattern is concomitant with public authority spending, which has favored the most advantaged metropolises.

AbstractAlthough Asian regionalism has commanded much attention from academics and policymakers, it has largely been restricted to the trade and financial realms. This paper focuses specifically on the scope and limits of ‘investment regionalism’ involving Asia. A combination of regional foreign direct investment (FDI) stakes and international socialization patterns has led Asian actors to mark investments as a key issue in their regionalism strategy overall. As elsewhere, they too have moved toward a mode of governance favoring the formal legalization of investments in terms of the precision, obligation, and delegation of rules. Already the endeavors of both the middle and dominant economies in the region have shifted from just concluding Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and investment-related chapters in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to designing region-wide investment agreements and initiatives by-and-for Asian countries. Although the legal effectiveness of this rule-making change will play out in the long run in and across Asian societies, the more immediate policy implication relates to its potential impact on the evolution of Asian regionalism as a whole.

Abstract‘New regionalism’, ‘region’, ‘city-region’, ‘cross-border region’, ‘border’ and ‘identity’ have become important catchphrases on the global geo-economic and geopolitical scene. The resurgence of these terms has been part of the transformation of both political economy and governance at supra-state, state and sub-state scales. Regions have been particularly significant in the EU where both the making of the Union itself and the ‘Europe of regions’ are concrete manifestations of the re-scaling of state spaces and the assignment of new meanings to territory. Such re-scaling has also led to increased competition between regions; a tendency that results from both the neo-liberalisation of the global economy and from a regionalist response. Regional identity, an idea at least implicitly indicating some cohesiveness or social integration in a region, has become a major buzzword. It has been particularly identified in the EU’s cohesion policy as an important element for regional development. In spite of their increasing importance in social life and academic debates, regions, borders and identities are often studied separately, but this paper aims at theorising and illustrating their meanings in an integrated conceptual framework and uses the sub-state regions in Europe, and particularly in Finland, as concrete examples. Regions are conceptualised here as processes that gain their boundaries, symbolisms and institutions in the process of institutionalisation. Through this process a region becomes established, gains its status in the broader regional structure and may become a significant unit for regional identification or for a purported regional identity. This process is based on a division of labour, which accentuates the power of regional elites in the institutionalisation processes.

Introduction: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, adopted by the Council of Europe, has become an important regulator of language policy in the signatory and ratifying countries. As a result, language policy towards minorities, turns out to be a bright example of multi-level governance (MLG) – a new pattern of political interactions, which is characterized not by hierarchical system of subordination to one center (the state), but pluralistic, dispersed activity of many actors interacting at different and interconnected levels of power. MLG, however, differs across various regions, since subnational actors intend to be self-sustained players of political interactions to varying degrees. Objectives: to identify the mechanisms of regionalist parties’ impact of on the involvement of regional actors in multi-level governance and to determine how it influences on the strength of language policy towards minorities. Methods: large-N comparative analysis and comparatively oriented case-study. Results: a large-N comparative analysis of 134 regions from countries that have ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has confirmed that the strength of regionalist parties has a positive effect on the scope of guarantees and preferences that minority languages receive in regions. The case-study of the Serbian Vojvodina, the most typical case, allows to expose the mechanisms of the impact of regionalists. Being represented in the regional authorities, regionalist parties not only promote language issues on the public agenda, but also achieve more energetic involvement of regional actors in policy formulation and making decisions on language policy at the national level. At the initiative of regionalist parties, first in Vojvodina, and then throughout the country, ethnic councils were institutionalized as significant actors in language policy. Thus, non-state actors are actively involved in the language policy, which is fully consistent with the MLG approach. Conclusions: regionalist parties and movements have a significant influence on the strength of language policy towards minorities. Its strength demonstrates a stable and statistically significant impact both on the volume of obligations undertaken in relation to regional languages, and on the degree of their implementation. Another significant factor is the presence of a kin-state among the linguistic minority.

Recent efforts to form a regional transportation organization for the greater Charlotte, North Carolina, region are discussed. The 13-county area, more than 126 km (75 mi) across, is uniformly low density and consists of 43 independent jurisdictions and cities, five state department of transportation districts, and five metropolitan planning organizations in two states. Regional travel patterns are just beginning to emerge along the highly radial road network. Since the late 1980s, at least four attempts to form consensus on regional transportation planning needs have been made but all have failed to galvanize. The history of these efforts is traced, and the causes of success and failure are reviewed. It is suggested that failure occurred primarily because the region is not yet truly integrated economically and the regional plans were politically too advanced. An incremental model of regional organization growth is then proposed. In this model organizational structure is related to the demography, commuter patterns, and physical, economic, and political regional integration over the next 30 years. Regions go through 17 definable steps as they emerge from separate cities and become part of large metropolises. The key roles of policy officials, businesses, staff, and others in facilitating regional planning in the absence of regional structure are explored.

The monograph under review is devoted to the study of Russian regionalism. The authors consider its various historical forms and come to the conclusion that the formation and expansion of the Russian state inevitably strengthened the regionalist forms of state administration and interaction between the central government and the regions. At the same time, the authors prove that in the history of Russia, regionalization and centralization were not mutually exclusive, but complementary directions of development. The ethnic factor has always played a significant role in regional politics, so the focus of the work is on the consideration of the ideology and political practices associated with ethnic regionalism. A significant place in the monograph is occupied not only by a description of the origins and political evolution of regionalist ideas in Russia, but also by an analysis of the features of Soviet and post-Soviet ethnic regionalism. The need to improve regional policy in modern Russia is convincingly substantiated. Indeed, in modern conditions, there is a need for a new type of partnership between the federal center and the regions of the Russian Federation, and, in fact, the response to the coronavirus pandemic laid the foundation for developing a model for quickly countering new risks, primarily by combining the efforts of federal and regional authorities. The conclusions formulated by the authors are convincingly supported by the study of a number of cases: the republics of the North Caucasus, the Finno-Ugric republics of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tatarstan, the modern Russian "regionalism", the Republic of Crimea.

For economic science, the process of globalization, globalization transformations and shifts is connected with the formation of a single world economic system that functions according to general rules. The beginning of the twenty-first century is marked by the regionalization of the political space of our country. Regionalism is increasingly asserting its rights as one of the most influential concepts of Western democracy. Within the framework of the European Union, there is a concept of “Europe of Regions”. Researchers pay attention to regional processes in the European space, paying tribute to the trends that are constantly developing there. Regionalism can be “administrative”, and in some cases it acquires a political character. Regionalism with a noticeable political accent, in which separatist motives play a leading role, is quite relevant for Ukraine. In our opinion, regionalism is not a unequivocally negative or destructive phenomenon, it has a rather significant potential of constructivism. This phenomenon is heterogeneous and ambiguous in the modern political history of various states. There is a need to develop a comprehensive program of state regional policy, taking into account the processes of political modernization and integration of Ukraine into the European political space.

AbstractThe article provides a thematic and theoretically informed introduction into this EJEAS issue on East Asian regionalism. Its point of departure is the obvious paralysis of East Asian regionalism during and after the Asian financial crisis. It examines as to what extent the subsequent efforts towards damage control and revitalization have lead to a re-invention of East Asian regional institutions as frequently urged in the region. By reviewing the more recent literature and the contributions assembled in the issue, the article notes that despite the crisis the trend towards institutionalist and constructivist theoretical approaches continues. These approaches however often tend to exhibit a certain cooperative bias which may blur the proclivity of foreign policy-makers in the region for political realism. Subsequent sections examine the cohesion of regional institutions and horizontal institutional differentiation. The article concludes that despite a proliferation of regional institutions, there has been no marked deepening of regional groupings and that regime building, as a approach to the management of inter-dependence, has not made noteworthy progress in a broad array of policy areas contending with border-crossing policy problems.

Regionalism: the development of governments and governance structures intermediate between state and local levels has become increasingly significant in the government of both Britain and the United States. Functional issues concerned with the regeneration of rustbelt areas or controlling growth in prosperous areas have resulted in searches for regionalist solutions on both sides of the Atlantic. However, in Britain there are additional pressures from regions with distinctive cultures, as well as from the increasingly influential ‘Europe of the Regions’. Demands for regional government and governance may be generated from the bottom up by a region's politicians, business leaders and others but they are unlikely to be successful unless they are encouraged by higher levels of government, at state, national or supranational levels.

Policy objectives for Southeast Asian regionalism had been evolving since the end of the Second World War. Economic development viewed as essential for establishing peace and stability in Southeast Asia and the links between development and security were evident in the elaboration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Also evident was the second-line support provided by external powers. While ASEAN was a regional initiative that came out of the Bangkok talks to end Confrontation, Western governments had been formulating regional cooperation policies in Southeast Asia decades prior. Economic development viewed as essential for containing communist influence and preventing internal insurgencies in the region. Growth and prosperity would come through regional development programs with external support. This would then expand to some form of collective security led by the Southeast Asian nations themselves. Regionalism viewed as one way of providing economic assistance to newly independent nations without the appearance of foreign interference in regional affairs. Therefore, the evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism was a combined effort of foreign power support for Asian initiatives throughout the economic development with the aim to provide security during the political transformation of the region from the post-war period into the early years of ASEAN and the aftermath of the war in Vietnam.

Recognition of regional features, outlining of the contours of regions, tendency to regionalize ethnic, economic, cultural and state-administrative space, and strengthening the ideology of regionalism in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that is Serbia and Montenegro, appear as a practical and political but also as a theoretical problem which includes and combines several scientific disciplines. The phenomenon of regionalism is not contradictory although it is primarily expressed through the numerous conflicts of interests rivalry and antagonisms of political subjects. The problematic side of the phenomenon of regionalism includes the result of an extremely negative and existentially tragic experience of the several years-long disintegration of the complex Yugoslav state. During the partition and disintegration of the second Yugoslavia, there also happened the disintegration of the Serbian ethnic area Growth, support and instigation of regional tendencies occurred in the historical circumstances of secession and did not stop in the post-secession period. Particularization and segmentation of political area, as well as the disintegration of the former state, did not occur in accordance with the norms of internal and international law. Legality was late and was achieved within the transformation of power reflected in the changed territorial policy of the dominant alliance of great powers. The entire past decade was characterized by an extraordinary metamorphosis of political space. Secession trend had the territorial features which included the change of borders and had been long in the focus of the global geopolitical attention. Territories were divided and made smaller. Intensive territorial dynamics within the external silhouette of the de-stated SFR of Yugoslavia resulted in the creation of several state and quasi-state political formations. Former republics became semi-sovereign states. Dispersed and displaced Serbian ethnos was configured in the three territories: in the Republic of Serbia - from which Kosovo and Metohia were amputated and placed under the UN protectorate - in the entire Republic of Montenegro and in the Republic Srpska, located in one part of the former Bosnia and Herzegovina. Demopolitical result of the geopolitical destruction of the Serbian ethnos was a great movement of the Serbian population from the west to the east, and its concentration in the territory of the Republic of Serbia this implied that the Serbs were expelled from their millennia-long abodes in Croatia, parts of Bosnia and from Kosmet. The geo-economic result of the same process was the devastation of the national economic strength west of the Drina and in the southern province. Economic regression occurred also in the national parent-land state. Balkan re-arrangement of the spheres of interest in the post-bipolar period was in 1995. fixed by the interest arrangement of the great powers known under the name Dayton Peace Agreement. Redistribution of the territories from the destroyed state occurred in the post-communist period with the expansion of west-civilization structures to the European east Westernization of the eastern part of Europe, or entire Europe as the other pole of the global West, could be characterized as a dual mega-regionality. Namely, the west is composed of Europe and America; on the other side, there is the global East or its hybrid variation Eurasia. With the disappearance of their common state and its framework, south Slavs found themselves in the seemingly independent, and actually client states. Western delimitation of the south Slavic area moved from the Yugoslav borders towards a wider Balkan demarcation. One could say that the revitalized notion of the Balkans became a new, in many aspects obligatory framework for regional thinking. The Balkan macroregion is further determined by the intentions to expand the European Union. One of the Euro-centric concepts, which is being experimentally employed precisely in the Balkans, is the establishment of the so-called Europe of regions in the peripheral areas. On the other hand, even though the process of the disintegration of the Yugoslav Federation appears to be irreversible, the superordinate Euro-American factor does not give up the possibility of the mezzo-regional initiatives, cooperations, associations and integrations. This "middle" level of dealing with the specificities of the Yugoslav region is related to the states and nations from the former Yugoslavia, or the so-called West Balkans. Naturally, it is not the tendency to revive the silhouette of the previous state, but certainly there is a noticeable intention to achieve a regional linking of the related, now semi-sovereign territories which sometimes belonged to the same state framework. The fourth level deals with microregionalism, that is the relation between the different areas in the newly-created states. It is interesting that the regionalist discourse is mostly cherished exactly in the ethno-heterogeneous Serbian area, although other Yugoslav states also have or had regional tradition and mixed population, like, for example, Slovenia and Croatia Nevertheless, these former Yugo-republics are structured as mono-national states, so the regional policy and ideology of regionalism are still not in the first plane. Regionalism within the newly-formed states could be supplemented with the micron level implying specific sub-regionalism of the highest degree, within the larger regions in the same state. This could be illustrated with Backa, Banat and Srem inside Vojvodina, understood as the northern Serbian region, or Kosovo and Metohia in the south of Serbia, in the province with the same name. In the part of Serbia outside the provinces, similar things could be said for Belgrade with its surroundings, Macva, Podrinje, Sumadija, Raska District etc. Thus, when it comes to the present FR of Yugoslavia, all five levels of regional dynamics have a principled, but insufficiently studied significance. Mega-regional level is related to the mark denoting the global belonging to the West. Macroregional level deals with the European loyalty, that is inclusion of the FR of Yugoslavia into the continental European trends. This trans-continental and continental direction of inclusion implies a historical teleology of the relative eastern belonging to the absolute West, that is Euro-America, and the entrance into the full structure of the European Union. All the mentioned problems of recognition and characterization of the regional phenomenology in the political topography of the world are motivated by the tendency to achieve as clear as possible spatial-temporal national and state orientation The direction is related to the so-called safety dilemma of the nation and the country faced with the change of size and essence of one's own state, with the different geopolitical position and redefined foreign-policy priorities. It is also the case of the changed alliance policy, and the innovated strategy of integration into the old and new global and regional political structures. On the basis of the indicated components of geopolitical context, one could say that the phenomenon of regions and their cognate correlates {regionally regionalization and regionalism) should not be understood exclusively through the legal categories of international law and the so-called constitutional solutions, that is administrative division of the state territory. Actually in the analysis of regions and regionalism in Serbia and the FR of Yugoslavia it is necessary first to discuss the pre-normative or meta-le-gal factors in the creation of the regional issue within the national and state issue, which have the form of the unsolved political problem. Meta-legality is located within the domain of the international relations and geopolitic. Meta-legal or pre-normative factors of the formation or recognition of regions and regionalisms deal with the possibility of the political constitution of the Serbian, that is Serbian / Montenegrin (still Yugoslav) society. Since the unique state area was destroyed in the four-year secession wars and there occurred significant demopolitical changes, war migrations, forceful displacements and expulsion of the population - the ethnic character of many areas was also drastically changed. At the same time, the post-secession existence of the FR of Yugoslavia could be also viewed through the optics of the state residuum. The remaining Serbia or Serbia (temporarily) without Kosovo is certainly not an equivalent for the Serbian ethnic space, nor for the entire Serbian lands. It is not even the FR of Yugoslavia, as a dual con federation of the Serbian / Montenegrin nation. Geopolitical reduction of the SFR of Yugoslavia to a residual creation of the FR of Yugoslavia was not deduced from the legality sui generis, but resulted from a conflict, the defeat of integralism and the victory of separatism, as well as from a new triumphal configuration of power. The impulse implying the statism of the collective rights from the former complex federal necessarily-multinational level was transferred to a lower mononational level. Therefore, the regionalist ideology in the post-secession reality of the residual state almost inevitably, as a tendency, nears the separatory particularism. Even the lost national state and the state entirety are openly denied within the requests for the territorization of the collective rights of various minorities. Naturally these requests do not carry the primary features of the development of democracy. On the contrary, in the majority of cases this implies the rise of parish and tribal consciousness prone to narrow-minded separation. Thus the post-secession requests for the regionalization are often just a slight rhetorical mask for real separatism. For example, they are expressed through the pseudo-national separation of Vojvodina from Serbia, as well as Montenegro from Serbia, or through the establishment of state-like entities in the territorial tissue of Serbia Alleged arguments are found in the unfinished disintegration of the SFR of Yugoslavia on the one hand, and in the prevention of the creation of the so-called Greater Serbia, even within the diminished Serbia That way, even in the post-secession, reduced Serbia one could easily recognize the tendencies of federalization and confederalization, even the amputation of its remaining state space. Additional arguments for the crawling secession and prolonged territorial destruction are found in the ideology of globalization and world trends of relativizing territorial integrity and state sovereignty. On the other hand, the idea about the principled insignificance of borders in Europe without borders, as well as Europe of regions, is emphasized. Thus, it is obvious that the new state and regional delimitations and demarcations are in contradiction with the vision of the trans-statal and trans-national integrity of the European continent. In Serbia itself, me problem of the restructuring of regions is determined by the inherited and unchanged triple division of its territory into the central part and two autonomous provinces in the north and south. Thus every idea for regionalization (expert, party, leader's, NGO and the like) faces the inherited, too narrow constitutional framework and easily slides to the federalization or confederalization of the Republic, and in extreme cases to the independence and sovereignty of ethnic, religious, linguistic and other minorities. Roughly put, the tendencies for territorial separation from the Republic of Serbia still exist in several neuralgic and unstable areas or regions. In Vojvodina, the presented tendencies have the character of a meaningless internal - Serbian autonomy, autonomism, latent separatism. Authentic Serbian autonomy lost its original character long ago and deteriorated into an internal national re-statism. On the other hand, in the furthest south of Serbia, in Kosmet, the UN protectorate is established, but the region is actually occupied and thus the status of the Province is "frozen". In the three municipalities in the south of Serbia, with the relative Albanian majority, Albanian separatism smolders within the platform of the so-called east Kosovo. In the Raska region (Sandzak) there are also strong tendencies for separateness on the religious-ecclesiastical, so-called Bosniac platform, with religious solidarity, and ethnic and territorial unity of all Bosniacs. In the meta-legal or pre-normative situation - which most often denotes political and geopolitical context implying interests, power and force - the inclinations for territorial design are faced with the conflicting ideology of regionalism. Therefore, the constitutional-legal solutions of the former, present and future regions, generated within the self-created legality which does not respect meta-legal, political and geopolitical impulses regardless of how aestheticized and "humanized" they may be - at the end face the practical impossibility of realization.

The article analyzes the situation with regional employment in Ukraine. As a result of the assessment of the labor market and transformational changes in the structure of employment, problematic aspects of regional employment policy were identified. The purpose of the study is to determine the features of the formation of regional employment policy in Ukraine. Based on the analyzed domestic and foreign experience identified the main approaches to the formation of employment policy in Ukraine. In order to identify priority areas of regional policy, a system of indicators is proposed, which should be used in the process of monitoring the labor market and assessing the peculiarities of regional employment. ). In order to strengthen the stimulation of regional development, the expediency of using such an innovative tool as gender-oriented budgeting is substantiated. and innovation with business needs. In order to ensure the reproductive process of innovation potential of regions and the optimal combination of state, regional and local initiatives with the interests of the private sector, it is proposed to create special forms at the regional and community levels to promote domestic employment policy - regional development agencies. The main trends in the development of national employment policy in European countries - in the context of the transition from the paradigm of the old regionalism to the paradigm of the new regionalism. availability of vehicles, the necessary professional competence of staff; establishing control over the periods of work and rest of drivers, etc.

The main objective of this study is to investigate ‘why does China adopted the strategy of new regionalism, and is it looking for an era of US decline in the region in the post 9/11 era’? Both US and China have made noticeable diplomatic, foreign policy, and cultural advances in their appeal and influence in the region since the 9/11 era. In addition, the Chinese regional integration approach (SCO) with the Central Asian states and Russia and its implication for US geopolitical interest are closely analyzed in this paper. It is markedly considered that Beijing has adopted a couple of measures to undermine the US attention in the region, either in the form of a new regionalism policy (SCO), soft power, to the advanced multipolar system, to promote mutual and multifaceted dealings with its bordering countries. The results of this descriptive study indicate that the dynamic role of China has ultimately weakened the emerging role of the US in the region where Washington has already triggered and enhanced its bilateral relations with the Central Asian states. Moreover, this inclusive study examined China’s regionalism approach from distinguishing perspectives such as Economic assistance, oil diplomacy, and economic and political strategies in its rapid ascendance in world politics.

One of the definitions states that regionalism means a common policy or project aimed at increasing informal links and economic, political and social transactions which strengthen integration processes, intensify intergovernmental cooperation and create regional identity among the community. According to the above, it was assumed that firstly, states in a group are stronger and more effective and secondly, that regionalism and regionalization may be regarded as a way to solve some regional problems and to contribute to the development of individual states. This narrative became especially attractive for underdeveloped and dysfunctional regions as it offered an opportunity for changes. As a result, a quantitative increase in regional initiatives started. The article is dedicated to the integration processes in the East Africa region. The main aim of the paper is to examine the situation in East Africa, regarding the role that the East African Community has played in this area. Moreover, an attempt has been made to analyze the integration model adopted by the organization and find out if the EAC is able to solve the main regional problems or rather to propose a failed solution and maintain dysfunctional patterns in the organization.

The paper analyzes India’s policy towards its immediate neighbourhood and tries to draw relevant inferences from India‘s recent efforts to build peace in South Asia. In this study, India’s immediate neighbourhood refers to SAARC member states and Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s foreign policy laid strong emphasis on ‘neighbourhood first’ policy that prioritizes strengthening India’s relations with its immediate neighbours . This paper traces the evolution of India’s neighbourhood policies over the years and studies the approaches adopted by different leaders. The renewed impetus towards India’s neighbourhood in the region under the Narendra Modi led government has been discussed in detail. It is argued that India’s recent neighbourhood practices such as strengthening bilateral ties, diplomatic engagements, sub-regionalism, elements of continuity or change and their applicability to establishing peace in the region has made a great impact in the region. The complex regional dynamics, seen notably in India’s relations with Nepal and Pakistan that serve as roadblocks in implementing a coherent neighbourhood policy, are teased out. The paper puts forth newer prospects of integration and offers a set of recommendations for sustained engagement between India and its neighbours in order to build peace in the region.

Growing international solidarity for protection principles has formed the backdrop for an evolving notion of human protection at the un in the post-Cold War era. The emergence of the ‘Human Rights up Front’ initiative, protection of children and Women, Peace and Security policy agendas, and normative frameworks such as the protection of civilians and the Responsibility to Protect are indicative of a tangible human protection agenda at the un. However, the extent to which human protection norms have diffused in different regions vary in important ways. Africa – one region or many – has been a norm maker, shaper and taker, as well as a major recipient of action in accordance with this nascent normative regime. This article provides an overview of regionalism in Africa and examines how perspectives and institutional expressions at the regional level(s) have been influenced by – and in turn influenced – the uptake and development of norms around human protection.

This article illuminates the value of the concept of the region in political ecology and environmental justice studies by presenting three arguments about the role of regions in environmental justice social movements engaged in climate change mitigation in California's San Joaquin Valley. First, regional planning agencies and environmental justice advocates are engaged in conflicts over not only the content of regional climate change plans, but the very definitions of region and the authority used to put these regional visions into action. Second, regional organizing provides environmental justice movements with new opportunities to address regional economic patterns and to negotiate with regional planning agencies, both of which influence local manifestations of environmental injustice. Third, regional strategies raise significant dilemmas for these movements as they try to sustain engagement across extensive spatial territories and engage with a broad set of policy and economic protagonists. Together, this analysis demonstrates that a dynamic approach to regions, regionalism, and regionalization can assist political ecology and environmental justice scholars in their common aim of understanding the co-production of social and environmental inequity and collective action to change it.Key Words: Environmental justice, regional political ecology, climate change mitigation, regional planning, rural community development

This article includes an exploration of the economic data sets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Statistics, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, as well as primary regional economic initiatives and agreements to assess the strategic indicators of economic regionalism using thematic analysis. The aim of this research is to determine how Southeast Asian regionalism can circumvent vulnerabilities to another economic crisis in North America and the European Union. To correct such financial vulnerabilities, ASEAN has significantly remolded the region into a single market consisting of a 10-nation integrated production base. The ASEAN Economic Community’s main pillars are the establishment of a regional economic foundation based on comprehensive investment initiatives; the liberalization of capital markets, tariffs, and professional labor; infrastructure connectivity; regional policy integration; and free trade agreements to create a regional value chain as part of a single market and production base. The more attainable this comprehensive value-capture-and-integration process becomes, the more attractive it will appear to the global economic investment community and for business opportunities to establish a robust regional foundation. Although the process appears straightforward, capturing value is not a single phenomenon or method, but rather a multifaceted phenomenon, as explored in this study. The regional integration model seeks profitability within effective cross-border production networks and regional liberalization.

The article reviews history and contemporary state of such an economic and trade policy phenomenon as regionalism. Three consecutive stages of regionalization are identified. First stage – prehistory of regionalism – lasted from the middle of the XIX century till 1940-s and was characterized by the formation of bilateral customs unions in Europe with strong political motivation. Second stage – classic regionalism – covers the second part of the XX century and is mostly determined by integration processes in the European region, creation of the EEC and then the EU, organization of a big number of alliances among developing countries mainly in the form of customs union following the EU example and some trade blocs between developed economies beyond the EU (i.a. NAFTA). In this period special disciplines for RTA’s were elaborated under the framework of GATT/WTO. Third stage – globalizing networking regionalism – gained momentum at the start of 2000-s and continues, with certain reservations, till nowadays. Contemporary regionalism has qualitative distinctions from regionalism of the past century. Besides fast and universal, covering all regions and subregions of the world, growth of RTA’s number, their agenda is widening and deepening significantly going far beyond WTO. We could also witness increasing frequency of interregional and transcontinental RTA’s, as well as RTA’s with participation of trade blocks, including interbloc RTA’s. Peculiarity of the current decade is the appearance of a considerable number of RTA’s parties to which represent large and largest world economies, and that was not the case before. But the principal shift is related to the formation of megaregional trade agreements with ambitious, prointegration agenda. New generation RTA’s, containing wide regulatory garmonization agenda and suggesting increasing institutional homogenity of participating economies, de facto promote alternative vis-à-vis classic approach model for the creation of common economic space, though without supranational elements. Nowaday regionalism is definitely drifting towards megaregionalism – the higher stage of regionalization process. Politics of the new American administration and Brexit, which stimulated deglobalization and isolationist tendencies in part of Western world, in practice have only led to some regrouping and deceleration of certain megaregional projects followed by enhancing China’s position on the track of megaregionalism (RCEP, Belt and Road, megaproject with accompanying RTA’s, latest BRICS+ and BRICS++ initiative). Megaregionalism, under any scenario, will exert deep influence on the world trading system and the WTO. In certain conditions megaregional agreements could serve as the foundation for the emergence of new and by large universal system of global management in the sphere of international trade and economic cooperation either as a WTO plus arrangement or in some other form. But this needs long-lasting preparatory interaction for the convergence and finding common denominators between quite different megaprojects as regards their scope and depth.

The outbreak of Covid-19 disease since late 2019 has led to fundamental changes in the process of globalization and liberalization of the world economy. In order to prevent the spread of this disease and control its negative consequences, many countries have implemented policies such as urban quarantine, cutting off passenger communication with neighboring countries and the world, closing tourist and tourist places, and implementing policies to protect domestic industries. In general, it led to the phenomenon of reverse globalization. According to the development of new economic convergence, which is based on the role of the market in economic relations between countries can play an important role in improving the productive capacity of countries in a region and create economic integration in different parts of the world. Such a state of integration in different parts of the world could be the solution to the process of globalization and in the post-Corona era, the concept of “one for all, all for one” was created at the regional and global level. As policy implications, the paper recommended some points to make a greater integration between Iran and Russia in the region

The article analyzes the regional policy of the European Union and the problems of regionalization through the prism of modern theoretical provisions about the region and identifying its place in the existing system of international relations; shows the EU's practical steps to assert its role as an independent actor in the world arena. Attention is focused on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the processes of globalization, on the key principles of which ‒ the free movement of people and goods ‒ were dealt a noticeable blow. The pandemic has intensified the processes of regionalization, the strengthening of which occurred as a natural response to the challenge. The author of the article analyzes the problems of regionalism through the prism of a collective monograph by well-known experts on regionalism and international relations E.B. Mikhailenko and V. I. Mikhailenko "European Union's Foreign Policy in the XXI century. European interregionalism", which became a continuation of the scientific research of the authors at the Ural Federal University. The article focuses on such vulnerabilities of the EU's regional policy as poorly formed EU foreign policy identity; dependence in the field of security on the United States; insufficient use of the tools of "hard power" to defend their interests and promote their values and ideals. The still insufficiently meaningful manifestations and consequences of the pandemic have given additional relevance to the monograph, clarifying the origins, difficulties, trends in the implementation of the EU's foreign regional policy, the achievement of interregionalism, its goals and limits

Indonesia is an inseparable part of a regional organization in the Southeast Asia region, namely ASEAN. The role of Indonesia also determines the movement of the ASEAN regional organization and strengthens ASEAN's position in the world view. The production of a Plan of action for the three main pillars of the ASEAN community, namely the ASEAN Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community listed in the Bali Concord II which is the basis of ASEAN's future work, is one proof of Indonesia’s role in strengthening regionalism. At the time of the establishment of the ASEAN Community, it was necessary to have a sense of community among its members, so that then ASEAN organizations were required to have a sense of belonging (We Feeling) in their organization to continue to ensure the sustainability of the community in the Southeast Asia region. This paper aims to examine the contribution of interregionalism involving Indonesia as a member state of the ASEAN community in its involvement and role in strengthening regionalism through the concept of the ASEAN Way and We Feeling. This paper follows the theoretical argumentation of the concept of transactionalism, which states that intense and extensive interaction among regional actors is very important to produce a fundamental “We Feeling” foundation for the formation of regional organizations. Departing from this conception, this paper sees that the ASEAN Way factor as a universal norm of the ASEAN community provides a forum as well as boundaries for Indonesia's involvement in order to strengthen regionalism in the region. This can be seen through the non-intervention policy in the ASEAN Way, in which Indonesia is politically restricted from being involved in the internal affairs of other community members.

This article analyzes the political transformation polysyllabic societies in the era of modernism in the Second example of institutional reforms in Italy and Spain. The territorial structure of Italy in its present form was constituted in 1970 (special status regions, including Sardinia, Sicily, South Tyrol, were identified earlier). Each region has a population of regional assembly, which in turn elects the executive (government) headed by the president of the region. Regionalization of the Italian political and social life in general took place. This that the «region» replaced «province» of the political hierarchy of the country. The process of reaching a consensus at the regional level was much softer and adjusted, aimed at a compromise. Concern «radical social renewal» changed worry about administrative efficiency and professional level – a change institutional priorities. In general, population and community leaders satisfied with the availability and much greater openness regional administrations versus national. Regional governments have become laboratories of policy innovation, largely determined the «new way of doing politics». Also analyzes the Spanish experience of institutional reforms. New model of territorial organization of Spain called State autonomy. The article notes that the Spanish Constitution does not specify either the number or the name of the autonomous communities, but merely indicates ways to individual provinces or their associations can create such communities (this right was implemented by all provinces and is now in Spain composed of 17 autonomous communities). In Spain, always in one way or another existing political and cultural regionalism, there is always special historical area. The history of the country is in this respect the history of vibrations, movements between centralism and regionalism.

Abstract This article explores developments in center-region relations between the Russian federal government and the Republic of Tatarstan, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. I argue that instrumentalist accounts are unable to satisfactorily explain several key moments in Tatarstan’s relations with the federal center, and that a focus on symbolic politics provides important analytical leverage. I examine three such episodes: aborted plans to introduce a Latin script for the Tatar language in 1999, the expiration of treaty-based relations and the assault on the region’s Tatar-language education policy in 2017, and the institution of the presidency – which exists to this day. In all three cases, interest-based explanations alone fail to account for what actually happened, whereas ideational explanations can help explain and interpret regional leaders’ actions. This has important implications for how we understand regional political dynamics in Russia amidst conditions of centralization.

The previous Abbott government had prioritized a general attitude to foreign policy captured by the phrase “Jakarta not Geneva,” which signified a preference for bilateral or minilateral interactions with the region rather than United Nations-based multilateralism. With Julie Bishop MP as Australia’s first female foreign minister, the Coalition also prioritized economic diplomacy, as exemplified by the repeated refrain that Australia is “open for business.” This approach led to a preference for diplomatic venues and processes that focused on continuing investments in regional architecture, new emphasis on minilateral dialogues such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, and Australia (MIKTA), and more effort directed to bilateral and plurilateral processes such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations. This approach has been continued under Prime Minister Turnbull, with a renewed focus on innovation. Part 1 considers minilateral and regional investments in the Indo-Pacific region, primarily, IORA, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). I consider MIKTA a unique vehicle for Australian diplomacy. Part 2 considers what issues Australia should be pursuing through these forums, with a focus on the two themes of gender equality (as an example of niche diplomacy) and trade (multilateralism under pressure) as case studies. Beeson and Higgott argue that middle powers have the potential to successfully implement “games of skill,” especially at moments of international transition. How skilful have Australia’s efforts been in these minilateral dialogues, enhanced regionalism, and plurilateral processes, and what more can be achieved in these forums? Are these efforts creating more fragmentation of the rules-based order, or are they a way to overcome global governance stalemates? I set out the arguments for whether Australia, as a pivotal power, should generate more global options, or be more focused on inclusion in the Asia-Pacific region.

China’s policy towards regional trade agreements (RTAs) will have a major impact on the international trading system, the debate about regionalism and multilateralism, and the policy of the WTO concerning RTAs. This article analyses China’s RTAs, identifies many reasons underlying them, and proposes a three–fold typology for China’s RTAs: economic integration agreements, standard regional trade agreements with other countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and bilateral free trade agreements with non–Asian countries. It then compares rules of origin, safeguards, and dispute settlement mechanisms in selected RTAs and evaluates them from the standpoint of WTO law. The article concludes, first, that the basic three–fold typology helps us to understand the objectives, organisation, and operation of China’s RTAs and their relations to China’s domestic structures, policy processes, legal and political culture and international and regional policies. Second, China’s RTAs are generally WTO–compatible since they are drafted in the shadow of WTO law, even though WTO law does not always provide a detailed normative template. Finally, China has the challenge and the opportunity of contributing to the development of a new role for the WTO in managing RTAs.

Regionalism denotes social demands in regions for greater autonomy from the central institutions of their state.1 Its bottom-up character sharply distinguishes it from traditional ideas of top-down regional policy.2 National law may respond to such demands with decentralizing reforms. The reforms may entail federalisation, as in Belgium, or asymmetrical devolution, as in the United Kingdom. The legal significance of the responses may be expected to vary depending on whether legislative or merely administrative powers are allocated to regional institutions and on whether legislative powers allocated are entrenched at regional level or merely delegated to regional institutions.3

On the basis of normative materials, clerical sources, literature of the issue, there is the analysis of the content of the main legislative acts of the M.M. Speransky’s reform in 1822 in Siberia in the field of administrative structure, management of foreigners and exile. The “binding” of the reform to the geopolitical, geographical, economic and ethno-confessional features of Siberia is noted. The authors come to the conclusion that this was the first experience of imperial legislation in Russia, based on the regional peculiarities of the Russian region, and I name this policy “the policy of imperial regionalism”.

Regionalism, and more generally multilateralism, is commanding considerable attention in the policy and intellectual communities. In the security domain, this interest can be traced to a number of developments. One is the regionalization of international security brought about by the dramatic change in the dynamics of the international political system. In the absence of a new overarching and overriding global-level security dynamic, domestic, bilateral and regional dynamics have become more salient and have to be addressed in their own terms. It is now much more necessary and possible, for example, to discuss security in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East in regional and sub-regional contexts, quite independent of a global dynamic or developments in other regions. While the interests and linkages arising from the involvement of external powers must still be taken into account, the context is qualitatively different from the Cold War era, when the dynamics of the superpower conflict permeated and in many cases subsumed the local dynamics of conflicts.

One of the most striking features of the work of scientists specialized in regional environmental governance is the huge diversity of ways they refer to the notion of region. In this academic subfield, “regionality” refers to different orders of reality (ontology), and regions have a heterogeneous status in the production of knowledge (epistemology). While such a diversity of uses and meanings illustrates the rich potential of a regional scope in environmental governance analysis, scholars' ontological and epistemological stances must be made more explicit. The objective of this commentary is to elaborate this suggestion and to illustrate it on the basis of the articles published in this special issue.

Introduction: the discussions on regionalization in the EU countries as a result of regional policy and inter-regional collaboration bring forward the issue of the regions’ political agency and its assessment criteria. Objectives: to determine the possibility of comprehensive assessment of the regions’ political agency in the scope of their commitment to multilevel government. Methods: concept analysis, descriptive analysis. Results: concept analysis of political agency allows to determine structural and functional links between elements that make political agency come into being and gain momentum. “Sub-national regionalism and multi-level policy” database provided the empirical basis for re-conceptualization and preliminary interpretation. Descriptive analysis allows revealing potential explanations for expressiveness of the political agency in the cases of EU regions in the scope of their commitment to multilevel government. Conclusions: firstly, enjoying equal political and institutional opportunities and having equal access to multilevel governance, European regions use them differently. Secondly, even within one country the identical autonomous (self-rule) status of regions doesn’t result in identical schemes of party system regionalization. Thirdly, there are crucial differentiations between regions of “the old” and “the new” EU members; these can be seen in the scope of inclusion into the EU programs and success of regional parties in European elections. Fourthly, by contrast, mother tongue rather than religion becomes the basis for regional identity and regionalism linked with it.

Cooperation in the South Pacific region is unique due to the characteristics of its participants. Following the period of decolonization (1962-1980), countries in Oceania have radically changed. Achieving independence gave those nations international legal personality, yet complete independence from their former colonial powers. The following consequence was gaining an opportunity to draft, adopt and execute own laws in national and foreign policy. PICT (Pacific island countries and territories) have been expanding connections, political and trade ones, within the region since the 1960s when permanent migration of islanders and intra-regional transactions began. Migrations along with foreign aid are considered as the distinctive characteristics of the Pacific Ocean basin. Since the 1980s, the regional integration in Oceania, through establishing regional groupings and increasing the regional trade agreements number, took on pace and scope. The MIRAB synthetic measure (migration, remittances, aid, bureaucracy) has been used in analyzing the Oceania developing microeconomies. Last but not least, migration and foreign aid have been retaining the region from a deeper and more effective stage of regionalism.

Indo-Pacific has emerged as a region of great movement, conflict and cooperation, contestations and coalition-building. The emergence of minilateral and multilateral cooperation by the middle powers is increasing in the region, with the regional countries enthusiastically mapping the region focussing on their centrality. History proves that the role of middle-power countries became more prominent during the moments of international transition. The two contrasting powers like India and Australia; one with a post-colonial identity in foreign policy-making, subtle emphasis on non-aligned movement (NAM) and emerging as an influential power, and, on the other, a traditional middle power with an alliance structure and regionalism akin to the Western model, have equal stakes in the region and it is inevitable for them to take a leadership position in building what is called a middle power communion in the Indo-Pacific. This article will explore the understanding of middle powers and how India and Australia, as middle powers; are strategically placed and, being great powers within their respective regions; take the responsibility of region-building and maintaining peace with great powers, and how the Indo-Pacific and Quad are emerging as discourses within their foreign policy-making.

The events of recent years have shown the need for regional studies. The problems of regionalism have a deep historical retrospective. The Second Polish Republic attempted to change the map of regionalism, in particular in the Ukrainian Carpathians, inhibited by the Ukrainian ethnographic groups of Hutsuls, Boykos, Lemkos. This attempt was unsuccessful and the local population didn’t support it. How did the regional Polish government see these processes? Despite the significant amount of work on the given subject, the period of the 1920s is not sufficiently researched. This article focuses on the political sources of identification, namely the activities of parties and public organizations in the Hutsul and Boykiv regions of 1924–1929 within the Stanisłav Voivodeship, it studies them through the perception of local Polish authorities. The unpublished documents of the State Archives of the Ivano-Frankivsk region make up the source base of the study. The analysed documents prove that the Ukrainian national identity of the Galician Hutsuls and Boykos in the 1920s was real and functional. It was the active position of political parties as well as cultural-educational, cooperative and other organizations, the position with a distinct Ukrainian ethno-national character that played an important role in its "formation" and manifestation. The most popular parties were the Ukrainian National Democratic Union and the Ukrainian Socialist Radical Party, both of them clearly stated their disagreement concerning the issue of the Ukrainian lands being a part of Poland and they strived for an independent Ukraine. Pro-Polish parties were far from very popular. Compared to Hutsulshchyna, Galician Boykivshchyna was characterized by an obviously higher degree of ethnical politicization. The ethno-political processes of the 1920s in the Hutsul and Boykiv regions resulted in the establishment of the Ukrainian national self-consciousness. In practice, on the local level even Polish officials did not question the national roots of Hutsuls and Boykos and them being Ukrainian; this fact only adds to the artificial character of the following Polish policy of local "regionalisms" of the 1930s. In general, the imaginary picture of the ethnical-political process in the region, provided by the local authority documents, was objective. The question whether it influenced the political decision-making process is open and still to be studied.

Using a variety of theoretical and methodological tools, the article reveals the features of Japan's integration policy in the Asia-Pacific region in the first decades of the XXI century. The influence of internal and external factors on its formation and implementation is shown. In the context of the principles of regionalism and globalism, the origins and basic principles of the doctrine of "open regionalism" as a basis for the formation of a multilateral free trade area are analyzed. , but also the world economy. All this gives grounds to assert that regional and global liberalization go hand in hand, reinforcing each other. Japan. The difference between Tokyo's approaches to the issue of integration cooperation in the region and the classical European model is traced. The example of Japan's participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) shows how the combination of economic feasibility in the foreign economic strategy with geopolitical processes in the region. Japan has contributed to expanding the range of participants (ASEAN + 3, ASEAN + 6). It is emphasized that strengthening the position of ASEAN is considered by Tokyo as one of the tools to strengthen the collective position of the participating countries in international relations. The role and motives of Japan’s participation in the TTP are clarified - to benefit from full-scale liberalization and to formulate common economic and political goals of the countries in the region, which will ensure unity of action in countering China’s trade and economic expansion. It is emphasized that in the conditions of international uncertainty and high conflict in the world, Japan demonstrates the ability to adjust its foreign policy. In this regard, the growth of its interest in strengthening the format of trilateral cooperation between Japan-China and South Korea to ensure stability and security in the region is significant.

In 2020, a right coalitional government leaded by the National Party started in Uruguay, after 15 years of left governments. There are signs that show the beginning of a eorientation of foreign policy towards greater trade openness and attracting investment. As a counterpart, there seems to be a loss of the relative importance of the region in Uruguayan foreign policy, which includes demands for the opening up and flexibilitation of the Mercosur and a repositioning against regionalism. This change promoted by the new government may be counterintuitive in relation to the regional vocation traditionally attributed by literature to the National Party. However, through the analysis of a census and interviews with legislators, the article shows that in the last decade party preferences have already outlined this relegation of the region. In this way, we argue that a pragmatic, realistic and deeply liberal “neoherrerismo” is emerging in the National Party, as a predominant tendency in the international vision of the government

We investigate the path-dependent effects of subnational variation in authoritarian state-building policies on voter–party linkages after regime change. We argue that long-term patterns of regional favoritism and marginalization produce patterned regional heterogeneity in the attitudes and preferences linking voters with parties. Postcolonial state-building policies create “winners” and “losers” from particular interventions, in turn shaping local citizens’ preferences over these policy areas and forming axes of contestation ready to be activated by democratic politics. We argue that attitudes associated with regionally consistent state-building policies should function uniformly as determinants of vote choice across regions, while attitudes associated with regionally divergent state-building policies should experience patterned regional variation in their effect on vote choice. We develop these arguments empirically with historical analysis of Tunisian state-building and an original exit survey of voters in five diverse regions conducted on the day of Tunisia’s first democratic legislative elections in 2014. Our findings contribute to a growing literature on the importance of analyzing political transformation at the subnational level.

What regards the vision of the future relationship of the global and regional liberalisation, two variants are offered. According to the first, multilateralism will go on perpetually around the present trajectory and gradually will, supported by the processes of internationalisation and interdependence, accelerated by the condensing net of trans-national corporations and their activities, suppress regionalism. According to the second, regionalism will, closely connected to multilateralism, spread territorially into the shape of several macro-regions as a transitive stage to the unified liberalised world economy. In both cases, it regards of course the visions of a system and not matter-of-fact type. In the frame of each region, there will further exist different comparative advantages, which will influence the volumes and structure of production and trade, as well as certain specific fields of economic policy. However, that changes nothing of the fact, that namely multilateralism contributes to a considerable extent to reaching a higher equilibrium, adaptability and coherence of the world economy as a whole, even if reaching of this state is connected with considerable, mostly, however, short-time, costs. The contribution characterises globalisation and regionalisation: its contents, types and dimensions, TNC, unequality of the globalised economic development.

To achieve national objectives and interests, different countries adopt specific orientations and strategies according to their domestic needs and geopolitical conditions, and based on the structure of the international system. In this regard, Iran's national power components, including strong national government, geopolitical position, and ideological elements, provides this country with a leading role in regional issues. Iran's strategic and geopolitical position, attained through its connection to some issues in the Middle East, provides it a context for serving the role of a regional player. This focus of Iran's foreign policy on regionalism safeguards the country's national interests in the long run. Thus, the Islamic Republic of Iran not only acts as a major player in the Middle East, but also upholds decisions to strengthen its position and to promote its national interests. At present, Iraq crisis is one of the central issues of Iran's foreign policy decisions in the region. In this study, we intended to discover the performance of Iran's foreign policy in Iraq crisis based on the components of its national interests. The investigated hypothesis is developed based on a realistic logic from the perspective of Iran's national interests including political-strategic and economic-commercial interests, as well as development model of Iran-Iraq cooperation.

The rise of new powers throughout the 2000s and the 2010s augurs the end of the unipolar system that has persisted since the end of the Cold War. In no region is this transition more compelling than in East Asia. Economic revitalization of this region and a steady redistribution of power related to it is a dynamic process characterized by intense changes in foreign policy strategies, practices, and orientations of China, Korea, and Japan. The proposed special issue seeks to critically assess the emerging developments of Chinas, Japans, and Koreas core international perceptions and policies. More specifically, the special issue addresses two complex and interrelated questions. Firstly, how do China, Korea, and Japan adapt to the changing international landscape? Secondly, how do China, Korea, and Japan respond to the challenges inherent to the pursuit of the enhanced international status? The contributions to this special issue aim at scrutinizing Chinas cybersovereignty and industrial policy; exploring the strengths and limitations of Koreas public diplomacy; and examining Japans contributions to regionalism. The special issue also discusses Russias relations with East Asia and its role in regional politics.

AbstractTackling germs, negotiating norms, and securing access to medicines are persistent challenges that disproportionally affect developing countries' participation in global health governance. Furthermore, over the last two decades, the excessive focus on global pandemics and security in global health diplomacy, rendered peripheral diseases that usually strike the poor and vulnerable, creating situations of marginalisation and inequality across societies. However, as the importance of regions and regionalism increases in global politics, and integration ambitions and initiatives extend beyond trade and investment to embrace welfare policy, there are new opportunities to explore whether and how regional commitments affect health equity and access to medicine in developing nations. What, if any, are the possibilities for meso-level institutions to provide leadership and direction in support of alternative practices of global (health) governance? Can regional polities become international advocacy actors in support of global justice goals? This article addresses these questions by analysing regional health diplomacy in South America. The article argues that regional organisations can become sites for collective action and pivotal actors in the advocacy of rights (to health) enabling diplomatic and strategic options to member state and nonstate actors, and playing a role as deal-broker in international organisations by engaging in new forms of regional health diplomacy.

Regionalism in Africa has been pursued to foster economic growth and outgrowth. Despite the numerous efforts towards economic integration by the East African regional states, success has been limited. There is no comprehensive integration policy to cement the East African regional states. Although several authors have examined the influence of regionalism from various perspectives and regions, they have not addressed the EAC and the ASEAN in a comparative context. This knowledge gap motivated the current study whose specific objective was to assess the economic factors which influence development in the EAC and the ASEAN regional blocs. The study was guided by the Power Theories. It employed the concurrent mixed methods approach, incorporating the survey design for the quantitative component, and the exploratory design for the qualitative component. The study used both purposive and stratified random sampling to select respondents from members of the EAC Secretariat, delegates attending various EAC council and summit meetings, ASEAN diplomatic representatives within the EAC Partner States and officers from the Ministries of East African Community and Foreign Affairs. The study utilized primary data collected using questionnaires and interview guides.. The study established that The EAC member states have embraced similar policies on human development, social benefit and protection, across the region. The results of this study have demonstrated that, despite the numerous efforts of advancing economic integration by the East African regional states, real, tangible success is still an illusion. Pragmatic realization of mutual political trust needs to be embraced if the goal of economic integration is to be realized. The study recommends the development of a legislative and economic framework (laws, policies and guidelines) for Community Development within partner states as well as harmonization of democratization policies, processes and practices.

Introduction: the significant impact of civil societies on regionalism processes worldwide should not be left. This comes from the fact that citizens are becoming increasingly aware of their rights, as well as any possible impact on their own nation or region by joint social activities. Moreover, in line with the expansion of human rights (here, we are talking about the third category, the so-called third generation of rights – social rights), citizens can participate in adoption of legal and political decisions also at the local level. They see themselves as ever-growing importance of players in regional management. The South Pacific, being relatively new region, is showing clearly the evidences of such civil social activities too. Methods: the methodological framework for this article is a set of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the main ones are the methods of public policy, analysis, and the formal legal method. Results: the article, presenting knowledge which is not enough studies in the European scientific literature will bring the legal dimensions of regionalism, as well as the actual functioning of the civil society organizations’ activities. To do so, it is necessary to describe some aspect of the Pacific cooperation in its formal, as well as informal methods and paths. Conclusions: the role and importance of CSO, as well as their great contribution to economic, social, cultural and political development, have long been known and appreciated globally. According to the United Nations, the role of social organizations in the process of regionalism in the South Pacific is crucial and necessary.

Davutoglu defines Turkey as a central regional power located in the middle of Afro-Eurasia and surrounded by regions with which it does not only have geographical proximity, but also historical and cultural ties. Consisting of three belts, these regions constitute the strategic depth of Turkey. The Balkans are one of them. The two basic axes on which Turkey’s Balkan geopolitics is based are Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. The Bosnian, the Macedonian, and the Albanian issues (the latter being an extension of the Kosovo issue) are key regional problems. A. Davutoglu considers them from the point of view of global, regional, and local challenges. Turkey should keep track of external regional factors and internal regional balances. At the global level, Ankara is striving to build a new international political, economic, and cultural order. Regionalism is the most important basis and requirement for the Balkan policy aimed at creating a regional order based on the principles of regional responsibility, inclusiveness, and economic integration, and aspirations for European integration. There is an incompatibility, moreover, a contradiction of regional and European integration, which creates a dilemma for the Balkan policy of Turkey.