Abstract
Is regionalization the new globalization?
Or are the core analytical concepts as discussed here flawed? In her recent, slimmonograph, Shannon K. O’Neil argues
that the world is internationalized but has not actually been globalized. Rather, she claims that three world regions are the
main theatres of action, and processes of regionalization account for the most relevant global dynamics. The author is the vice president of studies and the Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations based in Washington, DC – one of the top US think tanks on foreign policy, established in 1921. She has also published “Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States, and the Road Ahead” (Oxford University Press, 2013). In this book, she looked at the political, economic, and social transformations of Mexico and how they relate to the United States. O’Neil holds a BA from Yale University, an MA in international relations from Yale University, and a PhD in government from Harvard University. In her book “The Globalization Myth”, O’Neil details the rise of three main global manufacturing and supply chain hubs: Europe, Asia, and North America. She also discusses how these supply chains relate to the economic interests and practices of the
USA. The main argument – regionalization or transnationalism matters – certainly is not new. The author’s understanding
of globalization is conventional and limited to economics, markets, and supply chains. Globalization is taken as a material
reality, diffusing from a global centre (the USA), and not captured as a floating signifier in academic debate. The relevant literature, which has pushed the boundaries of global studies and other disciplines in the past two decades or so, is largely ignored. The literature on regionalism, which has overflowed in the last two decades, has also not been taken note of. This book is simply a sleekly written and longer version of a popular policy brief that has managed to be marketed in academic disguise.