Regionalism And The Formation Of South Pacific Order

In the traditional study of international relations,the political,economic,security,social and cultural exchanges and interactions between countries are examined though the respectives of nation/ state level and/or world system level.However,with the rapid emergence of the "regions",to explore international relations from a regional perspective is gaining recognition.It is a new direction to study international politics from a regional perspective.Regionalism is going momentum as the irresistible trend in contemporary world.It has great potential to significantly influence regional economy, politics,culture and society.With the development of regionalism,the regional order has been also evolving.Regionalism and regional order are intrinsically connected.From the experience of regional development,there are four deferent models of building regional order:exogenous coercion model,endogenous coercion model,exogenous cooperation model,and endogenous cooperation model.The choice of coercive and cooperative model is dependent on the principal means in which the countries choose to build the regional order,and to be exogenous or endogenous one is determined by the membership of the leading country of the regional order.This combination reflects the different characteristics between regional order and world order.The development of regionalism has promoted the transformation of regional order from exogenous coercion model to endogenous cooperation model.The impact of regionalism on regional order depends on the three variables:regional values and identity,regional institutions,and the political and economic ramification of regionalism.The continuous changes of these three aspects could potentially determine the evolution of regional order.In the history of South Pacific regionalism,it has experienced three distinctive phases:between 1946 to 1970,the regionalism was dominated by the former colonial powers outside the region;from 1971 to 1990,the regionalism had undergone the process of indlgenization;and after the end of Cold War to present,the regionalism has been going deep into a new phase.Correspondingly,the South Pacific region has experienced the collapse of the colonial system,the establishment of many independent countries,and the regional integration of the actors which lead to a new regional order in the post-Cold War era.The impacts of the development of the South Pacific regionalism include the three aspects:Firstly,it helps to shape the common values and identity in the process of searching for regional economic growth,sustainable development,good governance and security,so that the idea of the "Pacific Way" is widely accepted region wide.Secondly,it facilitates the construction of the institutional network of the sub-regional,regional and interregional levels on the basis of the promotion of regional economic integration,regional functional cooperation,resource management and environmental protection and regional security cooperation.Thirdly,it is beneficial to promote the political,economic and social development of the entire region and the countries in the region,and to upgrade the governments' capacities of dealing with all kinds of domestic and external affairs. These impacts constitute the main elements of regional development,with which a new regional order has been formed.According to the comprehensive analysis of the correlation between the South Pacific regionalism and the regional order,it preliminarily shows the role that the South Pacific regionalism played in relation to build and reshape the South Pacific order.In summary,the South Pacific order is exogenous and coercive one during the colonial period, however,with the development of the regionalism,the contents and features of the South Pacific order have changed internally,and the endogenous cooperation model has emerged s the new preferred model of development of the regional order.