Explain regionalism and regionalization and compare it and explain the differences

Regionalism is a term used in International Relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system (along with multilateralism and unilateralism.

Regionalization can be conceived as the growth of societal integration within a given region, including the undirected processes of social and economic interaction among the units (such as nation-states; see Hurrell 1995a, 39).  As a dynamic process, it can be best understood as a continuing process of forming regions as geopolitical units, as organized political cooperation within a particular group of states, and/or as regional communities such as pluralistic security communities (see Whiting 1993, 19).

Similarly, the term regionalism refers to the proneness of the governments and peoples of two or more states to establish voluntary associations and to pool together resources (material and nonmaterial) in order to create common functional and institutional arrangements.

Furthermore, regionalism can be best described as a process occurring in a given geographical region by which different types of actors (states, regional institutions, societal organizations and other nonstate actors) come to share certain fundamental values and norms.  These actors also participate in a growing network of economic, cultural, scientific, diplomatic, political, and military interactions (Mace and Therien 1996, 2)

Regionalization (the tendency or process to form regions) and regionalism (the purposive proneness to create regional institutions and arrangements) find expression in the economic and security domains, including convergent motivations toward both political/security and economic forms of integration.  Some of the common factors that might explain the trend toward economic regionalism (‘the new regionalism’ of the 1980s and 1990s) are the effects of the end of the Cold War, the shifting balance of world economic power, the uneven effects of globalization, and the shift toward outward-oriented economic policies in many parts of the developing world (Fawcett 1995, 25).