Transregionalization in the Context of Globalization
https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2021-5-80-65-80
Abstract
Transregionalization has already become a powerful trend in world politics. States and regional associations employ transregional initiatives to realize their own and collective interests. This new level of international interaction embraces a wide range of actors and fosters interconnectedness based on geographical proximity but shared functional preferences. Given the opposition between isolationism and disintegration, there is a problem of the relation between transregionalization and globalization. If the processes are unidirectional, then transregionalization is a stage of globalization. If they contradict each other, transregionalization facilitates the creation of new dividing lines.
Considering several cases of megaprojects, especially in the Asia-Pacific, the article substantiates the typology of transregionalization, emphasizing its cooperative (inclusive and aimed at global integration) and competitive form (mostly exclusive and impossible to converge with other projects). The author stresses that strengthening functional ties makes transregionalization an adaptive version of globalization driven by common interests and shared views of future global development paths. Intensification of transregional relations is likely to stimulate globalization and integration practices and the participation of state and nonstate actors in global governance.
In today’s world politics, transregionalization exists mainly in the form of projects and initiatives. This signifies both difficulties in reaching consensus on further cooperation and conservative states’ policy towards participating in such large-scale associations. However, the very emergence of transregional associations with varying degrees of convergence and institutionalization, promoting specific institutional and economic development and cooperation patterns, strengthens multipolarity of the international system.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: The article was prepared within the framework of the project “Globalization and deglobalization (isolationism) as two vectors of the political development of the world”, RFBR and EISR grant № 20-011-31168.
About the Author
D. A. Kuznetsov
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Denis A. Kuznetsov – Candidate of Political Science, Senior Lecturer at the Department for World Politics, Researcher at the Center for Comprehensive Chinese Studies and Regional Projects
Pr. Vernadskogo 76, Moscow, 119454
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Review
For citations:
Kuznetsov D.A. Transregionalization in the Context of Globalization. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2021;14(5):65-80. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2021-5-80-65-80
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