ABSTRACT
An encyclopedic number of new terms and acronyms have appeared in international relations literature and discourse over the course of the past ten post-Cold War years. Their appearance has not been heralded by all. Many academics and policymakers skeptically regard such terms as convenient new labels for what are, essentially, long familiar concepts. Others query the extent to which the search for new ways of thinking about international relations really does produce fundamentally different understandings of how order among states is achieved and sustained. Ultimately, the benefit of new approaches to practical international politics is considered, at best, unproven. Subregionalism and subregional cooperation represent two of these contested terms. In the first place, what is a subregion? What exactly is defined by the term “subregional cooperation”? And what distinguishes it from any other form of cooperation between states?
