Granì (Feb 2015)
The concept of the region as an actor of modern international relations
Abstract
Regions have begun to play an active role in the international arena, establishing new international connections, solving different local and even global problems etc. Thus regions pretend to be full participants in the international relations on a par with nationstates. All these facts are connected with the processes of globalization, regionalization and democratization of the society’s life. The concept of region is a subject of various scientific researches, political discussions, international and national legal acts. But in spite of this the universal definition of region is not yet available. Also, the definition of the region as a participant in international relations requires clarification. Such wise the article is dedicated to analysis and specification of the concept of region as an active participant in contemporary international relations. It has a review of the most common scientific approaches concerning understanding of region concept: geographical, foreign policy, international policy, cultural, philosophical, historical and the number of others. The analysis of various variants of regions’ concept has revealed that they show different aspects of it. But as a result they focus on one or several specific characteristics of region, wherein ignoring the others. That’s why one of the conclusions consists in inexpediency of region’s universal definition. This could be explained by a wide content of the region’s concept. It is showed that the region’s definition depends on the specific scientific issue. Based on the analysis of scientific approaches the conclusion of the article contains a clarification of the region’s definition as a participant of international connections.
