Define regional organizations and their importance in the contemporary internati

Question

Define regional organizations and their importance in the contemporary international system. Choose one of the following organizations:

The Arab League, The Organization of American States, The Organizations of African Unity, The European Union, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Discuss the history, structure, and activities of this organization. What political and economic problems have the organization dealt with in its history? Discuss how effective this organization has been in promoting unity and allowing states to work together on various issues as equals. Conclude by evaluating to what extent the member nations are drawing together or pulling apart on political and economic issues and the implications for the international system and the development of international law?

Explanation / Answer

The international system differs from the domestic (or national) system in one very basic way - there is no world government. With the world wars and the progressive growth of the world’s nuclear arsenal, there has been a significant move by state leaders to rectify this situation. The basic idea was that if different states engaged in dialogue and depended on each other for their own survival, the basic idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ might be contained. Globalisation and liberalisation have only helped entangle different countries into each other affairs further.

The UN, WHO, WTO are such international and multilateral fora. There are of course several others. However, during the cold war, it was understood that the UN can be constrained because of bipolar rivalry as well as an acceptance of the fact that it is often inefficient in providing local solutions to local problems. The regional level therefore, was imagined as an in between tier between the domestic and the international. Regional organisations as under the UN charter were hoped to function as units of the UN and allow for increased integration as well as greater efficiency.

The irony however, is that as we have moved towards a more globalised world, the regional level has only become more predominant. Developing countries saw regional organisations as a safety valve, saving them from the rigorous pressures of the global economy as well as furthering development by providing controlled, larger markets. As time has passed, regional fora have become avenues for the emergence of regional leaders of the developing world to coordinate their responses to issues like climate change, nuclear proliferation and what not and come together as a block in the UN General Assembly to challenge the hegemony of the P5 (USA, UK, France, China and Russia) in the Security Council. It has also allowed individual players like Brazil and India to solidify their international leadership ambitions by first attempting regional leadership. Regionalism therefore, is a diplomatic, economic and geopolitical tool. Organisations such as BRICS have allowed the global South to challenge the power axis as represented by the UN. There are great ambitions, both noble and intensely practical.

This present wave of regionalism however, has argued that the economic logic of yore has been replaced by the search for cultural cohesion and regional autonomy. A fascinating study of the same is the Latin American case. Latin America proves that regionalism is an old old impulse, constantly evolving under the rigors of the international system.

While the visions are fantastic and they do work plenty of times, sometimes like in the South Asian case, regionalism fails fabulously as well. The greater the power asymmetry the less effective regionalism is, it seems. Psychology beats the economic rationale, though not always. Nevertheless, regional organisations do function to at least contain the level of discord within regions.

I hope I have been able to shed some light on this topic. It is a huge question and I am sorry if I ran off a little (my dissertation was on the same). Thanks again :) Please feel free to ask more questions if I have been unable to satisfactorily answer your question (Manali).

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