This book focuses on sub-region as a new social unit of international society. It is based on the findings obtained through meticulous fieldwork and joint studies conducted over the past 10 years by about 20 researchers, primarily from Japanese universities and Chiang Mai University, Thailand.

In the context of the end of the Cold War and the spread of globalism, sub-regions are attracting attention as new social units of international society never before observed. In the "second wave" of regionalism that became active in the 1980s, a new regionalism, which differed qualitatively from the old regionalism, expanded globally. This "new regionalism" is characterized by multi-dimensionality, complexity, fluidity, and non-conformity, and within it we cannot overlook the fact that spaces on a new scale, such as sub-regions, are being formed in various parts of the world. The sovereign state system that has continued unbroken since the Westphalia Treaty is being transformed, and within this context, the increase in the number of sub-regions as new social units adds to the sense that we have arrived at a post-Westphalian international order. This book focuses on sub-region as a new social unit of international society. It is based on the findings obtained through meticulous fieldwork and joint studies conducted over the past 10 years by about 20 researchers, primarily from Japanese universities and Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The sub-regions described here are mostly international cross-border spaces or units in the interior of a certain region, which include: multiple states, states and parts of states, or more than two parts of states (often referred to as micro-regions). Such sub-regions have been formed in various parts of the world since the end of the Cold War. However, studies on sub-regions remain unexplored in the existing studies of regionalism. The few studies that do exist mainly focus on the economic aspects of sub-regions. In contrast, this book will specifically examine the sub-regions in Asia (especially the Mekong region and Europe) as main cases from a political science and international relations perspective, aiming to establish a new/alternative international relations by carving out a political angle of sub-region as a new social unit of international society and attempting to shift the paradigm of conventional international relations. To understand the political dimension of a sub-region, this book will mainly focus on three aspects: sub-regions and state strategies, bottom-up dimension of sub-regions, and sub-regions and borders.

Provides the first systematic analysis of new Asian regionalism as a paradigm shift in international economic law.

Regionalism has regained momentum in the post-Cold War era. New economic groupings continue to spring up across the globe, while older regional organizations have strengthened their institutional bases and broadened their scope. Explaining the reinvigoration of regionalism requires comparative analyses that not only highlight the commonalities that characterize various regional experiments but also account for the differential outcomes and divergent trajectories such projects exhibit. This collection of seminal articles on regionalism advances theoretical concepts that can stimulate useful comparisons, along with scholarly surveys of important instances of regionalism in the contemporary world. Besides classic studies of the European Union, the volume includes authoritative overviews and case studies of regionalist projects in East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Central Eurasia. An introductory essay situates these articles in the context of the five decade-long research program on regional integration theory.

Textbook on regionalism and its role in a global marketplace, ideal for students of IR and globalisation.

Building on the recent initiative to truly globalize the field of international relations, this book provides an innovative interrogation of regionalism. The book applies a globalizing framework to the study of regional worlds in order to move beyond the traditional conception of regionalism, which views regions as competing blocs dominated by great powers. Bringing together a wide range of case studies, the book shows that regions are instead dynamic configurations of social and political identities in which a variety of actors, including the less powerful, interact and partake in regionalization processes and have done so through the centuries.