- The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism
- Preface
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Framework of the Handbook and Conceptual Clarifications
- Old, New, and Comparative Regionalism: The History and Scholarly Development of the Field
- Theorizing Regionalism: Cooperation, Integration, and Governance
- Globalization, Domestic Politics, and Regionalism
- The Diffusion of Regionalism
- Regionalism Beyond EU-Centrism
- North America and the Transatlantic Area
- Latin America
- Europe
- Eurasia
- Asia
- North Africa and the Middle East
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Regional Security Governance
- Regional Trade Governance
- Regional Monetary and Financial Governance
- Regional Development Governance
- Regional Social and Gender Governance
- Regional Environmental Governance
- Regional Migration Governance
- Regional Human Rights and Democracy Governance
- Regional Institutional Design
- Regional Dispute Settlement
- Regional Identities and Communities
- The Legitimacy of Regional Institutions
- Inter- and Transregionalism
- Three Cheers for Comparative Regionalism
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter explores the mismatch between an intuitive expectation about how a high degree of regionalization particularly in the Arab part of the Middle East would translate into an advanced form of regionalism, on the one hand, and the predominant view of the Middle East as a region without (much) regionalism, on the other. The Middle East has been rich on visions of regional integration but these have seldom been realized. Instead the region is marked by weak regionalism and inefficient institutions aiming at modest forms of regional cooperation. The Middle East points to how the relationship between regionalization and regionalism can be more ambiguous than is often acknowledged. Certain forms of regionalization have been a burden rather than an enabling factor for regionalism in the Middle East. Inefficient institutional designs of some regional organizations have been intended to counter the effects of regionalization and more ambitious regionalist projects.
Keywords: Middle East, Arab regionalization, regionalism, institutions, institutional design
Morten Valbjørn is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and Government, Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus, Denmark.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism
- Preface
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Framework of the Handbook and Conceptual Clarifications
- Old, New, and Comparative Regionalism: The History and Scholarly Development of the Field
- Theorizing Regionalism: Cooperation, Integration, and Governance
- Globalization, Domestic Politics, and Regionalism
- The Diffusion of Regionalism
- Regionalism Beyond EU-Centrism
- North America and the Transatlantic Area
- Latin America
- Europe
- Eurasia
- Asia
- North Africa and the Middle East
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Regional Security Governance
- Regional Trade Governance
- Regional Monetary and Financial Governance
- Regional Development Governance
- Regional Social and Gender Governance
- Regional Environmental Governance
- Regional Migration Governance
- Regional Human Rights and Democracy Governance
- Regional Institutional Design
- Regional Dispute Settlement
- Regional Identities and Communities
- The Legitimacy of Regional Institutions
- Inter- and Transregionalism
- Three Cheers for Comparative Regionalism
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
