Conclusion

Abstract

To reiterate, the working premise of this volume has been that there is a strong and deep link between regionalism and global crises in terms of stimuli, responses, processes, and consequences. This suggests that regions and regional actors are integral to understanding the ‘global’ economic and financial crisis, especially the implications of this crisis on often neglected occurrences within the international political economy. Importantly, the collection of chapters in this volume highlights the regional governance mechanisms through which the ‘global’ crisis is being managed. While there is disagreement over the degree of importance of regionalism, what all the chapters in this volume do seem to agree on is that, without approaches which consider the nuances of regions, regional actors, and the regional space itself, we cannot fully understand the changing landscape of the international political economy. This is, of course, not to say that our understanding of how ‘global’ crises and phenomena play out can be obtained only through an investigation of ‘regional’ actors or their activities. Rather, the real virtue of the premise of this volume, which underscores the link between the global and the regional, lies in preventing us from being preoccupied with either regional contexts and elements or global conditions and environments.