Regionalism in the World Polity

Jupille, Joseph and Jolliff, Brandy (2011) Regionalism in the World Polity. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Preferential and regional trade agreements (PTAs and RTAs) are increasingly ubiquitous and uncertainly effective in the trade regime. We develop a “world polity” account of the emergence of PTAs and RTAs that accounts for the surprisingly high degrees of isomorphism (structural identity) and decoupling (goal-achievement mismatch) so readily observable in this field. After elaborating its implications for the EU, less developed countries (LDCs) and regionalism, we identify a handful of testable implications. Though our aim is primarily theoretical, we offer empirical explorations of these hypotheses. Regionalism, we argue, has become a line in the “script of modernity” which tells other actors how to organize themselves, what goals to seek, and how to behave. These actors, in turn, embrace this newly-scripted expectation as a function of their need for external legitimation and exposure to the carriers of world societal scripts. We expect these world polity factors to complement, rather than substitute for, standard political economy determinants of PTA and RTA formation.

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