Regional Organizations in International Society: Decolonization, Regionalization and Enlargement in Europe and Southeast Asia

Abstract

Ever since the end of the Cold War, regionalism is on the rise. However, the regional organizations formed in various parts of the world look markedly different. Existing Comparative Regionalism literature largely neglects the way in which regional norms contribute to the reproduction of these differences. Against this background, my thesis aims to identify the social conditions and the political mechanisms that cause regional organizations to develop along divergent pathways. Using concepts and arguments from the English School, social constructivism and institutionalism, I develop an approach to the analysis of change in regional organizations that takes into account their connection to a regionally specific normative context. I argue that actors talk about regional governance on two levels: that of abstract norms (‘primary institutions’) and that of concrete rules and procedures (‘secondary institutions’). A historical comparison of decolonization, regionalization and enlargement processes in the EU and ASEAN as well as their respective predecessors demonstrates that pathways in the development of regional organizations depend on how actors connect these primary and secondary institutional levels in the discourse about regional governance. The analysis illustrates that the normative context of regional organization-building is often malleable and ambiguous, and that decision-makers use different strategies to translate this dynamic framework into concrete rules and procedures.