The United States And Inter-regionalism

Inter-regionalism is the institutionalized relationship between different regions that can promote the institutionalization of international relations. It has become a new layer of global governance.Inter-regionalism is the phenomenon of linking globalization with regionalization. Since the1990s, with the accelerating globalization and regionalization, Inter-regionalism also gradually got into the speedway of development and played a more and more important role in practice. Through the framework of Inter-regionalism theory, this thesis reviews different features of the progress of American inter-regional ism in different historical periods, summarizes the motivation and the features of the reality, explores the relationship of inter-regionalism with the regional and global governance and the regional governance, and prospects the future of the governance in which the United States will participate.This thesis is divided into three parts:the introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction explains the significance of the selected topic, the research status at home and abroad, the ideas and framework of the paper.Chapter one introduces the theoretical framework of inter-regionalism, mainly exploring the process of power participating and managing. Firstly, this chapter summarizes different concepts and understanding about inter-regionalism. Secondly, this chapter discusses the function of inter-regionalism combining with the actual practice. Finally, this chapter explores "quasi-inter-regionalism", pointing out the shortcomings of the existing research of inter-regionalism, and discusses the significance of the research of quasi-inter-regionalism.Chapter two analyses the process of American inter-regionalism. Such a process can be divided into three parts according to the evolution of time:pre-World War II, Cold War, and post-Cold War. Each stage has different characteristics. During the stage of pre-World War Ⅱ, the American inter-regionalism was largely confined to the political cooperation between regions. The main embodiment of such kind of inter-regionalism is the Organization of American States. Although establishing the Organization of American States is from mutual willingness, if seen from a practical perspective, the United States absolutly dominated the process of interregional cooperation. It is also the process of regional governance in Latin America. American involvement in Latin American countries successfully resisted the external forces’intervention. American governance in this interregional progress will have a bigger space and much potential in the future. During the Cold War, limited in the field of military security, the embodiment of American inter-regionalism is NATO. Due to historical and realistic reasons, the policy toward Europe was the center of American foreign policy. American constant involvement in European affairs process was also the reflection of the process of regional governance in Europe. NATO was the mainly tool of American governance to the region of Europe, and the United States also played a leading role in NATO. By NATO, the United States well realized the creed of "Containing the Soviet Union, limiting Germany, and ensuring American existence in Europe". At the same time, America’s regional governance in Europe also promoted the development of European integration. After the Cold War, American interregional cooperation began to focus on the economic field, which behaves the new development of the American inter-regionalism in the time of post-Cold War:American influence fell in the continent of America; By NATO’s new changes, we can find the changes of the influence of the United States in Europe; The process of active participation of America in TPP reflected the change of its Asian strategy, which was to establish American identity as an Asia-pacific country, and hedge China’s growing influence in the Asia-pacific region.Chapter three is about the impetus and practical features of American inter-regionalism. The impetus is the regional strategic goal, including balancing/bandwagoning, institution-building, identity-building, governance. Inter-regionalism has played an important role in American diplomacy, which has become an important part of American foreign strategy, and the main tool to realize American foreign strategy; The practical features mainly are "hegemony" and the "utilitarian", etc.The fourth chapter is about American inter-regionalism and global governance. The United States is the world’s only superpower and the only country with global action ability. Since the end of World War Ⅱ, the United States played a vital role in dealing with global affairs and the governance of global public problem. American strategy, policy and action in the field of global governance plays a decisive role in the architecture of global governance. American inter-regionalism is an extension of the regionalism strategy and governance. The key of such part is to clarify the role of American governance in some specific areas.The conclusion discusses American inter-regionalism and its potential of governance, showing that the inter-regionalism certainly has the potential to contribute to the emerging system of global governance. However, its potential is by no means fully utilized. Nation states, especially a superpower like the United States has a better chance to participate in governance.