ABSTRACT
The early twenty-first century is marked by the proliferation of counterproductivity in industrial societies. The new global situation brings a new research agenda in the academic discourse of postdevelopment. This chapter examines Tamanoi’s theory of regionalism, illuminating its key theoretical categories. It deals with the introduction of the historical background of regionalism. The chapter explains the objectives of regionalism and its impact on academic research and civil society. It discusses the new vision of community as conceptualised by Tamanoi. The chapter also examines four theoretical pillars that constitute his concept of community, namely, a politics of the common good, an economics of the commons, an aesthetics of a human-scale lifeworld, and an ethics of future. It proposes a new research project, which reexamines regionalism in global intellectual history. Regionalism is arguably the most original socio-intellectual movement in postwar Japan exploring alternatives to development.
