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Home arrow Newsletter arrow Articles arrow Workshop Summary: Emerging Crises: Deglobalization and Alternative Regionalisms?
Workshop Summary: Emerging Crises: Deglobalization and Alternative Regionalisms? PDF Print E-mail
Emerging Crises: Deglobalization and Alternative Regionalisms?: Opportunities and
challenges for regional alternatives 
Sponsored by: Peoples’ Agenda for Alternative Regionalisms, Focus on the Global South, Transnational
Institute, and Hemispheric Social Alliance
Workshop organizer: Jenina Joy Chavez,  
Documented by: Mary Ann Manahan,  
Number of participants: 67

Key points:
1. Export-oriented industrialization, which is the model of development for the past 40 years, has
pushed the integration of national economies into the international economy. This model, guided by
neoliberal policies, has a number o f dimensions— trade liberalization through free trade agreements
(FTAs) and the World Trade Organization, integration of financial markets and the elimination of
control, etc. Howver, this has contradicted efforts on regionalism, of countries banding regionally to
strengthen their national economies through regional cooperation. 

2. In ASEAN, the extent of regionalism that has taken place in terms of cooperation, complementarity,
and integration over the last 40 years is very little. The region, however, moved together in a free
trade area, i.e. open regionalism (e.g. Singapore and to some extent the Philippines) as part of the
globalist project. At the same time, the economic elites in ASEAN did not buy in the idea of regional
integration because they want to protect their own internal markets. ASEAN’s integration is a project
of government elites, one which is confined at their level and does not translate at the grassroots. Far
from being democratized, we cannot expect a real move from the government and economic elites
toward real integration that is based on cooperation, equity, fair trade, solidarity, and
complementarity. 

3. The impetus would have to come from civil society and peoples’ movements. Reclaiming the region
and developing regional alternatives are projects that go beyond politics and the economy. Reclaiming
the region means recreating regional integration based on different principles—people-centered and
people-oriented. The challenge, then, for civil society and peoples’ movements in the region is to come
up with and assert an alternative vision of regional integration or new regionalism based on peoples’
needs and aspirations, taking into consideration the different levels of developments in the region; a
regional integration that will challenge the neoliberal model—a peoples’ ASEAN. A peoples’ ASEAN
will need to move towards a trade relation that is based on equity and fairness, address common
regional issues on the environment and marine resources, climate change, migration, development
assistance, food/agriculture, and human rights. This is also very important as the region and the
world face a global economic downturn. 

4. The tasks for the future, as a mid-term goal, include working on concrete and commons issues that
can capture the imagination of the public and peoples at the grassroots. For example, setting up an
Asian common action team on agricultural and energy issues and reach out to other social movements
and grassroots groups through education and information campaigns about regional alternatives. 

5. There should be more future discussions on visioning, practical solutions and how to move toward a
real regional integration. One recommendation is that for the processes of civil society and peoples’
movements to not repeat what governments are doing (i.e. open regionalism, which is characterized
by political and institutional democratic deficit).

6. The experiences of other regions such as Latin America, East Asia, South Asia, and Europe in regional
integration show that the “the diplomacy of the people is more advanced than the diplomacy of the
state.” Examples in Latin America such as the ALBA offer inspiration for regional alternatives, of how
social movements can influence the agendas of governments. The EU’s model of integration, on the other hand, teaches us that it is not the right model to follow. The EU has been hijacked by the
corporate agenda and by the neoliberal forces and serving their interests. On the other hand, there are
also lessons to learn from the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) (e.g. their
charter that is based on peaceful resolution, food bank for the region, etc.) and the moves of South
Asian movements to build a Peoples’ SAARC and a peoples’ agenda. These examples highlight the
importance of cross-fertilisation of experiences among the different regions. We should encourage
these exchanges and popularize the current alternatives that civil society are developing within and
around regional integration processes as well as civil society perspectives on the innovative and
progressive governmental regional alternatives. 

 
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