Regionalism in the Pacific Rim. The linkages between Latin America and Asia-Pacific (2000–2020)

Abstract

One of the trends in the construction of the international system in the early 21st century has been the complexity of the regionalism and regionalisation processes in the world. In the case of the Pacific Rim, this set of interactions between governments and civil society organisations (CSO) in Latin America and Asia-Pacific highlights the slowly but surely political-economic dynamism among a representative group of social actors which have promoted these regional cooperation and integration initiatives. The research proposes that the linkages among specific zones on both sides of the Pacific Ocean during the 2000s and the 2010s, has favoured the social construction of an incipient, interconnected and integrated region based on mutual principles of dialogue, consensus, and co-operation. In this sense, the existence of regionalism and regionalisation processes shows the importance of top-down and bottom-up approaches to achieve these goals. And it considers the feasibility in the formation of regional community-building initiatives via inter-regionalism and trans-regionalism in the Pacific Rim.