Mapping the Trajectory of Regionalism: Insights from Eurasian Geo-Strategic Landscape

Abstract

This paper explores the historical evolution of regionalism and its conceptualization in the context of international relations. The text describes three phases of regionalism: early regionalism, characterized by pre-modern exchanges based on symbolic kinship bonds; old regionalism, primarily manifested as security and economic integration organizations following World War II as a response to the anarchic nation-state system; and new regionalism, developed in the late 1980s and intensified following the end of the Cold War, as a result of globalization and the emergence of various regional groups such as NAFTA, the European Union, APEC.

Asia illustrates the Westphalian state model and serves as a pivotal region in the new-regionalism era in the context of the current global transition. There is an emphasis in the text that civilizational and cultural differences between countries in the region do not present destabilizing factors. It is the Sino-Pak-Russian Axis that is seen as an indicator of the emerging new-regionalism, especially in President Xi's One Belt One Road initiative. As a guiding principle of this new-regionalism, the concept of "Harmony under Heaven" is referenced, in contrast to the traditional Russian geopolitics based on the integration of the Heartland and Northeast Eurasia. This study examines both the historical trajectory and current manifestations of regionalism, particularly in the context of Asia's dynamic geopolitical environment and, by extension, Central Asia as well.