New regionalism in the post cold war era: a case study of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), 1989-2009

Abstract

Current interest in regionalism, often referred to as “new regionalism" or NR, is undoubtedly one of the important trends in contemporary international relations. Scholarly attention has been drawn to the creation of a number of regional organisations such as the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) that was created in 1991 in South America. Meanwhile, 1989 saw the birth of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The objective of this study is to determine the main characteristics of new regionalism. The second objective is to apply those characteristics to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to determine whether APEC conforms to new regionalism. To maintain the research objectives, we adopt the new regionalism theory (NRT) as the framework of analysis. The discussion on NRT is divided into three sections. Firstly, definition of new regionalism. Secondly, the development of NR theory from different perspectives, and lastly, definitions of concepts (the features of new regionalism). The findings of the research can be summarized as follows. The key features of new regionalism are trade liberalisation, open regionalism, nondiscrimination, interdependency, and voluntarism. Despite some weaknesses and criticisms such as lack in an institutional building, the changing nature of APEC`s objectives, and the deviation from concentrating on economic to security issues especially after 9/11, APEC can be a model of new regionalism since the main features of the mentioned concept can be traced to it. With huge population in the fastest growing economies of the world that practice the features of new regionalism, APEC stands to be a global leader in trade and economy.