COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO DEFINITION OF THE REGIONAL COMPLEX

The paper deals with the analysis of the concept “regional complex” by three mainstream approaches in the IR theory, namely, neorealism, neoliberalism, and social constructivism. In the English-speaking world the concept is mostly associated with the Regional Security Complexes Theory (RSCT) developed by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver. However, such understanding reads the concept too narrow. Russian scholars (Alexei D. Voskressenski, Ekaterina V. Koldunova) broaden this understanding by engaging developmental issues. Yet, it seems that the concept “regional complex” still needs further elaboration. The author aims to analyze the use of the concept in the available English and Russian academic literature in order to reveal its scientific value. Having found that existing interpretations do not identify unambiguously the meaning of the “regional complex”, the author suggests her own definition of the regional complex as an integrated (“mature”) regional subsystem, which possesses its own actorness based on the feeling of a specific regional identity that is shared by peoples of the region as well as extra-regional observers. The paper offers an analytic comparison of the notions “region”, “regional subsystem”, “regional complex”. The main conclusion drawn by the author implies that the concept of “regional complex”, virtually ignored by English-speaking academic community, deserves an entry in the Russian political science thesaurus because it helps to conceptualise a promising field of international relations, that is, regional and interregional interaction. It seems that the use of this term is meaningful and productive for further development of the RussianschoolofWorld Regional Studies.

1. Axelrod, R.; Keohane, R.O. Achieving Cooperation under Anarchy: Strategies and Institutions / Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate. / Ed. by David A. Baldwin. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

2. Best, E. The Assessment of Regional Governance: Principles, Indicators and Potential Pitfalls / UNU-CRIS Working Paper №W-2008/10. Tokyo: United Nations University, 2009.

3. Bøås, M.; Marchand, M.H.; Shaw, T.M. The WeaveWorld: The Regional Interweaving of Economies, Ideas and Identities / Theories of New Regionalism: A Palgrave Reader / Ed. by F. Söderbaum and T.M. Shaw. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

4. Börzel, Tanja A. Theorizing Regionalism: Cooperation, Integration, and Governance / The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism / Ed. by Börzel T.A., Risse T. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

5. Boulding, Kenneth E. Three Faces of Power. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications, 1989.

6. Buzan, B. People, States, and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era. London: Wheatsheaf Books, 1991.

7. Buzan, B.; Wæver, O. Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

8. Buzan, B.; Wæver, O.; Wilde, J. de. Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder-London: Lynne Rienner, 1998.

9. Gamble, Andrew; Payne, Anthony. The World Order Approach / Theories of New Regionalism: A Palgrave Reader / Ed. by F. Söderbaum and T.M. Shaw. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

10. Grieco, Joseph M. Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism / Neorealism and Neoliberalism: The Contemporary Debate / Ed. by David A. Baldwin. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

11. Hettne, B.; Söderbaum, F. Theorising the Rise of Regionness // New Political Economy, 2000, Vol. 5, No. 3.

12. Hurd, I. Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics // International Organization, 1999, Vol. 53, No. 2.

13. Khrustalev, M.A. Analiz mezhdunarodnykh situatsii i politicheskaia ekspertiza (Analysis of International Situations and Political Expertise). Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2015.

14. Koldunova, E.V. Mirovoe kompleksnoe regionovedenie kak issledovatel’skii podkhod i nauchnaia distsiplina (World Regional Studies as an Analytical Approach and a Scientifi c Discipline) // Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta, 2016, No. 5.

15. Lagutina, M.L. Global’nyi region kak element mirovoi politicheskoi sistemy XXI veka (The Global Region as an Element of the World Political System of the 21st Century) // Comparative Politics Russia, 2015, No. 2, pp. 87-95.

16. Leonova, O.G. Global’naia regionalizatsiia kak fenomen razvitiia global’nogo mira (Global Regionalization as a Phenomenon of Global World’s Development) // Vek globalizatsii, 2013, No. 1, pp. 59-66.

17. Martin, Lisa L.; Simmons, Beth A. Theories and Empirical Studies of International Institutions // International Organization, 1998, Vol. 52, No. 4.

18. Mirovoe kompleksnoe regionovedenie: vvedenie v spetsial’nost’: uchebnik (World Regional Studies: Introduction to the Field: A Textbook) / Ed. by A.D. Voskressenski. Moscow: Magistr; INFRA-M, 2015.

19. Neumann, I.B. A Region-Building Approach / Theories of New Regionalism: A Palgrave Reader / Ed. by F. Söderbaum and T.M. Shaw. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

20. Nye, Jr. Joseph S. What New World Order? // Foreign Affairs, 1992, Vol. 71, No. 2.

21. Paasi, A. The Institutionalization of Regions: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Emergence of Regions and the Constitution of Regional Identity // Fennia, 1986, Vol. 164, No. 1.

22. Sistema, struktura i protsess razvitiia sovremennykh mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii (System, Structure and Process of Development of the Contemporary International Relations) / Ed. by V. I. Gantman. Moscow: Nauka, 1984.

23. Vasil’eva, N.A.; Lagutina, M.L. Global’nyi evraziiskii region: opyt teoreticheskogo osmysleniia sotsial’no-politicheskoi integratsii (The Global Region of Eurasia: A Theoretic Understanding of Social and Political Integration). Saint Petersburg: Izdatel’stvo Politekhnicheskogo universiteta, 2012.

24. Voskressenski, A.D. Kontseptsii regionalizatsii, regional’nykh podsistem, regional’nykh kompleksov i regional’nykh transformatsii v sovremennykh mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniiakh (Concepts of Regionalization, Regional Subsystems, and Regional Transformations in the Contemporary IR) // Comparative Politics Russia, 2012, No. 2.

25. Voskressenski, A.D. Non-Western Theories of International Relations: Conceptualizing World Regional Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

26. Waltz, Kenneth N. The Emerging Structure of International Politics // International Security. Cambridge, Mass.: Fall 1993, Vol. 18, No. 2.

27. Whittlesey, D. et al. Regional Study with Special Reference to Geography / D. Whittlesey, P.E. James, J. Malin, C.F. Jones, H.H. McCarty, S.B. Jones, R.S. Platt, L.E. Klimm, Kirk Stone, J.R. Whitaker. Washington, D.C.: Division of Geology and Geography, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1952.