Regionalism as a response to global economic challenges : Case studies of South Africa and the Czech Republic
Abstract
Article compares South African and Czech(oslovak) strategies to re-enter the space of global politics and global political economy after 1990. In the second half of the 20th century, both countries were in this space isolated - South Africa forcibly due to its apartheid policy and Czechoslovakia voluntarily as one of the strongest bases of the Soviet bloc.
First part of the article is theoretical and discusses the so-called new regionalism and its relation to globalization. Second part is a case study of South Africa, third part is a case study of Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic.
Both case studies have the same analytical Ffamework describing regional, continental, global and bilateral strategies of the respective country. This framework allows a comparison of these two case studies in the fourth part.
Conclusion is that both countries pursued regionalism as a tool to get enrooted in the globalized economy, however, both countries aimed at different goals. This difference can be explained by different export bases, different levels of political and economic integration in Europe and Africa, different size of economy, and different attitudes of political elites in both countries.