New regionalism(s) in the global political economy. Conceptual understanding in historical perspective

  This paper places the contemporary study of regionalism in historical context. It argues that the study of regionalism has occurred in two waves. The first gathered pace as a sub-field of International Relations from the late 1950s and the second emerged in the context of the globalisation of the late 1980s and the 1990s. RID="*" ID="*" This paper, originally presented as a lecture to the Asia Europe Foundation University, 7^th Summer School, Barcelona: November 11, 2002, represents an abbreviated and revised version of Shaun Breslin and Richard Higgott (2000) Studying Regions: Learning from the Old Constructing the New, New Political Economy 5 (3): 333–352. Permission of the Editors of New Political Economy to publish in this form is gratefully acknowledged. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council in the writing of this paper is also gratefully acknowledged.