BÖLGESEL ÖRGÜTLER

The number and importance of regional organizations have increased in recent times. Their purposes vary extensively from promoting economic co-operation and integration to enabling diplomatic, political, military and sociocultural interactions among nations.

Truly, with regard to regionalism, Europe remains the most advanced and integrated region; others, such as the Middle East and Africa, have made only limited progress in the same respect.
In fact, Europe has been the centre of regionalism and regional organizations since the formation of then-European Communities (today’s EU) in the
Cold War years of the early 1950s.

Comparatively, European regionalism is characteristically more progressive than others because it has ‘aimed at taming nationalism (and sovereignty in the case of the EEC) by protecting and promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law as key prerequisites for peace and prosperity’. In contrast, non-Western regionalism is characterised by anticolonialism, national liberation from colonial rule, the preservation of sovereignty and the avoidance of a great power rivalry in the Third World.

While the European example has recently faced certain challenges, such as the Eurozone crisis or Brexit, the ongoing exit process of the UK from the EU, it arguably remains one of the most striking and successful regional integration projects.

The newly created Pacific Alliance in the west coast of Latin America has also imitated some elements of MERCOSUR, while the ‘ASEAN way’ has been a role model for wider Asian regionalism.

With regard to regionalism, Europe remains the most advanced and integrated region; others, such as the Middle East and Africa, have made only limited progress in the same respect.

The keywords in the developing world were regional cooperation, economic development, and nation-building rather than regional integration and avoidance of war.

Organization of (OAU) was renamed the African Union in 2002, while ASEAN adopted a charter to create a Committee of Permanent Representatives as a body that resembles the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives, and it strengthened its secretariat as a sign of EU-style institutionalisation.

NAFTA is a single puprose regional organization among others.

Full economic integration: harmonisation and unification of monetary, financial and social policies and the creation of supranational institutions

In economic terms, the success of regional organizations is generally measured by criteria such as trade diversion, trade creation, macroeconomic convergence and the completion of common projects. However, the most significant criterion applied in this regard is the organisation’s degree of success in achieving ‘market integration’ as a sign of a high level of economic interdependence among member nations.

The EU experience is compatible with the purpose of preventing nationalism. Indeed, the first phase of European integration was the creation of the now-defunct European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which united the two bitterly hostile powers of France and Germany under one supranational body.

There are a few examples of regional organizations that disappeared completely. For instance, the Arab Cooperation Council that was founded in 1989 by Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen could not survive the Gulf War of 1991, as Saddam’s Iraq invaded Kuwait, and member states found themselves on opposite sides during the war.

The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) was also intended as a regional security pact in the Middle East during the Cold War years until it transformed into a regional economic co-operation scheme under the name of the Regional Cooperation for Development.

The Ukraine Crisis in 2014 between Russia and the West was closely linked with this confrontation, as the root cause of the crisis was Kiev’s decision to make an association and free trade accord with the EU instead of partnering with Russia and the Russian-led Eurasian customs union.

Warsaw Pact is one of the examples of single-purpose regional organizations.

Benelux Union, Arap League, African Union and Nordic Council are selected examples of multi-purpose regional organizations.

Common market: creating a common market by providing the free movement of factors of production (persons, capital, goods and services).

The main objectives of the OAU were, inter alia, to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to
promote international cooperation within the  framework of the United Nations.

OAU: Organization of African Unity

The organisation, COMECON, no longer exists, but it remains a historical integration model of planned economies of the former Soviet bloc.

Rent-seeking refers to a situation in which regional organizations ‘are seized by particular groups who use regional integration (e.g., large projects) as a source of revenue’ (Vinokurov and Libman, 2017: 18).