European Union: a response to globalization or a part of it?

Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 2, University of Cape Town, course: The Political Economy of International Relations, language: English, abstract: The world order of today, unlike 50 years ago, is dominated by two phenomena: globalization and regionalism. Although globalization is the "e;word on everyone's lips"e;, there are around 170 regional agreements today - half of these concluded since 1990 - with the European Union as probably the best known and the most unique one of these agreements (Moore 2000, p.1). Whereas some argue that regionalism is a threat to the efficiency created through globalization), others regard it either as a mean to participate in the globalization process and therefore a part of it or the only efficient response to the challenges of a continuously deepening polarization generated by the capitalist globalization process (Ruggiero 1997, p.2; Moore 2000, p.3; Mittelman 1999, p.27; Amir 1999, p.54). Whether regionalism contradicts globalization or complements it, depends heavily on the definition of both concepts as well as on the way a region acts within the framework of the global system (Hettne 1999, p.1). In order to address the question, whether the European Union, as a regional project, is contributing or responding to globalization and with respect to Hettne s above mentioned argument, the first chapter of this essay will set the framework for the following discussion by defining the two concepts globalization and regionalism. Chapter three will give a brief overview of the European Union s core policies and its framework as they are crucial to analysing the European Union s role in the world system. Concluding from these two chapters the initial question will be addressed in chapter five, by an analysis of the policies of the European Union. A resume will be taken in the last chapter.