Geographically, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are situated in the fastest growing region in the world, positioned alongside the dynamic economies of neighboring China and Thailand. Revolution, Reform and Regionalism in Southeast Asiacompares the post-war political economies of these three countries in the context of their individual and collective impact on recent efforts at regional integration. Based on research carried out over three decades, St John highlights the different paths to reform taken by these countries and the effect this has had on regional plans for economic development. Through its comparative analysis of the reforms implemented by Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam over the last thirty years, the book draws attention to parallel themes of continuity and change. St John discusses how these countries have demonstrated related characteristics whilst at the same time making different modifications in order to exploit the strengths of their individual cultures. The book contributes to the contemporary debate over the role of democratic reform in promoting economic development and provides academics with a unique insight into the political economies of three countries at the heart of Southeast Asia.

This contributors provide a range of perspectives on the increasingly central issues of state reform, European integration and British regionalism in the 1990s. Using case material, the contributors examine: the effects of state reform and European integration on British regionalism and the devolution debate; and the nature of recent central responses to the re-emergence of regional and devolution issues, with a particular focus on the recent policies of the Major governments and the policies of the Opposition parties. They also present some evidence which suggests that state reform and EC/EU developments have determined and accentuated important new trends in British regionalism, and underpin the plausibility of far-reaching regional and devolution reforms.

Sections include: "Setting the scene: old questions or new?", "Drivers for change: new approaches to federalism and regionalism", and "New institutions? Approaching the challenge of reform."

"Before the Civil War, Cincinnati, Ohio, was considered the most important art center of what was then regarded as the U.S. West. In this book, Wendy Jean Katz explores the role of artists and art associations in moral and social reform in antebellum Cincinnati. Its leaders claimed for it the status of the future geographic and economic center of the nation, and supported art as part of their effort to forge a regional vision of morals and manners attractive enough to persuade their adoption nationally."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This book comprises key essays on comparative regionalism and, more broadly, on regional conflict and cooperation by Professor Etel Solingen. The study of regionalism, a subject pioneered by Solingen in the 1990s, is now an established field of inquiry, with a large community of scholars and practitioners around the world. This book provides a window into an evolving conceptual framework for comparing regional arrangements, with a special emphasis on non-European regions. Framed by a comprehensive, previously unpublished introduction, the chapters provide a broad spectrum of analysis on domestic political economy, democracy, regional institutions, and global forces as they shape different regional outcomes and trajectories in economics and security. Themes as different as the regional effects of democratization in the Middle East and East Asia, the rise of China, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and regional nuclear trajectories are traced back to a common analytical core. The nature of domestic ruling coalitions serves as the pivotal analytical anchor explaining the effects of globalization and economic reform on different regional arrangements. This collection provides a focal point that brings this work together in a new light and will be of much interest to students of regionalism, international relations theory, international and comparative political economy, international history and grand strategy.

Regional trade agreements have expanded exponentially over the past decade, and have become a significant, if controversial, factor in the expanse of economic globalization. Social Regionalism in the Global Economy attempts to take a fresh, interdisciplinary approach to addressing labour regulation by drawing upon insights from industrial relations, comparative capitalism, and new governance schools of thought. It stands for the proposition that an interdisciplinary study of regional regulation holds the potential to offer a fuller account of social regionalism. Its focus is to consider how institutions and labour market actors reconstruct and renegotiate regulatory space in a changing economic environment characterized by regional impulses. It argues that there is a dynamic interplay between institutions and actors of social regulation. This interplay occurs at many levels. The book therefore maps both how actors shape institutions as well as how institutions shape social actors’ ability to affect regulatory processes. The editors bring together leading international specialists willing to move beyond textual analyses of regional agreements to offer alternative accounts of regional integration. The work emphasizes that institutional context and social actors at multiple governance levels are integral to the progressive construction and regulation of regional space. It further contributes to the literature by combining insights from overlooked regional entities in transition and developing countries with original analyses from the European Union and the NAFTA. These aims will be achieved by combining original research that is empirically grounded with theoretically informed analysis.

Examining the effects of economic and political restructuring on regions in Europe and North America, the main themes here are: international economic restructuring; political realignments questions of territorial identity; and policy choices and policy conflicts in regional development.