Abstract
Since the 1990s much of the academic discourse in International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE) focused on the deep structural transformations associated with the process of economic globalization. With increased levels of political-economic and social interdependency across the world accompanied with increased levels of mutual vulnerability, the multilateral system of governance has increasingly lost ground in competition with globalization and the diffusion of threats highlighting the decreased importance of territory. And yet, the forces of globalization have forced governments to rescale to the new realities of a globalized economy creating new spaces of governance. The spread of regional governance frameworks across the world, its re-emergence as a possible conflict resolution mechanism within the UN-framework, as well as the increased tendency of inter-regional interaction indicates that international relations are witnessing a change of the Westphalian system with regions evolving into central arenas and actors of governance. It is therefore that this study will explore what role regional governance frameworks can play in enhancing global governance and thus to tame the negative implications of globalization. In doing so, the proclaimed argument is that the ‘regional’ has evolved into an important ‘meso-level’ in the global governance system, both, in terms of an additional layer as well as in form of powerful actors. Regions can function as intermediates between the local, national, and global levels. As such, regions integrate a broad set of actors linking them to the global and thus help to organize the condition of anarchy at the global level from below, while revitalizing multilateralism from its post-9/11 unilateral interlude. In systematically scrutinizing the links between global governance and regionalism as causally related and complementary responses to the overall process of globalization this paper enters wide uncharted waters, since global governance and regionalism have long been conceived of as inconsistent concepts. In analyzing the theoretical relationship between these concepts, I argue that the notion of regionalism as a part of the process of globalization should not be understood as a process which undermines global governance in its attempt to regulate the global challenges, but which can enhance the capacity of global governance in pushing forward its frontiers.
