Regionalism and democracy: Regionalism as an ideological means of seizing sovereignty

Abstract

Within the framework of dominant contemporary social processes of globalize and regionalism, struggles for structural allocation of powers in institutions of state and international relations take place. Ideologies of regionalism and globalization conceal interests of the most powerful states for establishing new form of domination in contemporary world. The notion of 'seizing sovereignty' can be understood through utilization of democratic critique of values of nation and state. In this article, two meanings of the notion regionalism are distinguished: a) type of social community that has been developing under the influence of economic, cultural, political factors during certain period of time at a territory within the state, b) ideological construction that has utilizable and political character. The final part of the article deals with the critical analysis of the meaning of the notion based on the experience of regionalism in Serbia, as well as theoretical capabilities of sociology in understanding the notion of regionalism.

Keywords

• regionalism
• democracy
• state
• sociology
• Serbia