ABSTRACT
As regionalization emerged as a global trend during the second half of the 1980s, it was not so frequently associated with regional organizations - unlike the wave of regionalism observed in the 1960s (Fawcett and Hurrell, 1995). The phenomenon that is today commonly known as 'new regionalism' drew its initial impetus from the generalization of structural adjustment and deregulation policies, and went along with a diversification of the global economy into three major core regions: North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. With the exception of the European Union (EU), where earlier institutional developments had significantly contributed to a reinforcement of regionalism, the acceleration of the drive towards the concentration of international trade, investment and research within and between the blocs of the 'triad' had also developed as an outcome of strategies individually pursued by non-state actors.
