Abstract
Poverty reduction and health became central in the agendas of Southern regional organisations in the last two decades. Yet, little is known about how these organisations address poverty, inclusion and social inequality, and how Southern regional formations are engaging in power constellations, institutions, processes, interests and ideological positions within different spheres of governance. This article reviews academic literatures spanning global social policy, regional studies and diplomacy studies, and the state of knowledge and understanding of the ‘place’ of regional actors in health governance as a global political practice therein. It identifies theoretical and thematic points of connection between disparate literatures and how these can be bridged through research focusing on the social policies of regional organisations and regional integration processes. This framework hence locates the contributions of each of the research articles of this Special Issue of Global Social Policy on the regional dimension of health policy and diplomacy in relation to Southern Africa and South America. It also highlights the ways in which the articles bring new evidence about how social relations of welfare are being (re)made over larger scales and how regional actors may initiate new norms to improve health rights in international arenas engaging in new forms of ‘regional’ diplomacy.
Highlights
We argue that regional formations are playing a significant role in shaping the formation of new socio-political ‘intra-regional’ agendas, as well as the potential to engage as a global actor through ‘extra-regional’ diplomacy and ‘bloc activism’ in support of those agendas
Health provides a necessary sector-specific lens through which to examine how Southern regional formations are engaging in power constellations, institutions, processes, interests and ideological positions affecting health and social welfare at different levels of governance
As the importance of regions and regionalism increases in global politics, and integration ambitions and initiatives extend beyond trade and investment to embrace a far wider conception of social policy, there are new opportunities to explore socio-political and socio-institutional dimensions of world-regional orders in support of rights-based approaches to social development and inclusion at different levels of governance
Summary
As the importance of regions and regionalism increases in global politics, and integration ambitions and initiatives extend beyond trade and investment to embrace a far wider conception of social policy, there are new opportunities to explore socio-political and socio-institutional dimensions of world-regional orders in support of rights-based approaches to social development and inclusion at different levels of governance.
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