ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that novel ‘bottom-up’ forms of regionalism initiated by civil society are arising at least partly in response to the social disruptions, inequalities, and insecurities that are features of the currently dominant neoliberal order. It attempts to distinguish the relations and activities within and among civil societies that engender practices and discourses of ‘security and development regionalisms’. A new security discourse is emerging in the aftermath of the Cold War. The complexity of the ‘new security agenda’ is complicated further by the increasingly interactive nature of the relations that exist among different levels of polity. A change in regional dynamics is one important effect of the altered and expanded security agenda. Security in a post-Cold war world means that a far more extensive set of actors can take responsibility for setting the terms for their own peace and security, rather than passively receiving the prescriptions of state policymakers.
