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Multipolarity and the Future of Regionalism :

Subtitle: 
Latin America and Beyond
Publication Name: 
GIGA Working Paper
Volume, number, page: 
n.264
Year of Publication: 
2015
Author(s): 
GARZON Jorge F.
Organization Name: 
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Acronym: 
GIGA
Publisher: 
GIGA
City: 
Hamburg
Country of Publication: 
Germany
Full Date: 
January 2015
Considered Countries: 
Bolivia
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Uruguay
Russia
India
China
United States
Brazil
Category: 
Reports
Theme: 
Country - LAC
Country - Country
Agreements
Association Agreeements
Strategic Partnerships
Government
Business
Keyword(s): 
Multipolarity
Regional powers
Regionalism
Regional Integration
Open regionalism
FTA
Mercosur
NAFTA
Unasur
ALBA
Pacific Alliance
Foreign trade policy
Foreign trade organizations
Foreign trade
Abstract: 
This paper inquires into the effects of an emerging multipolar world on the international institution of regionalism. While IR scholarship has been making a strong case for the regionalization of world politics since the 1990s, the fact that most of the rising powers are also the sole regional powers of their home regions has led some scholars to argue that the advent of multipolarity can only strengthen this general trend toward a more regionalized international order. In this contribution, I challenge these arguments by proposing an alternative way of thinking about how ultipolarity is developing. The implications of this interpretation are that the emergence of multipolarity may actually generate powerful centrifugal forces within regions, which would have adverse effects on the known forms of regionalism that regional groupings have been implementing thus far. This applies particularly to the global South, where intraregional economic interdependencies tend to be weak. The proposition is tested by examining empirical findings across several regions and through a case study
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