The regional agenda of the English School has so far neglected the polysemy of institutions within international society, which in turn relies on a distinction between norms and rules.
The European Union is one of the most successful instances of voluntary international cooperation, and diffusion theory serves as a useful tool to analyse the EU’s influence on regionalism elsewhere.
As the standard of civilization has fallen into disrepute, other standards have taken its place. Of particular importance is democracy, which encompasses human rights and the rule of law.
The EU is not a model power for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At this point, it is simply another regional organization that can serve as a reference point for ASEAN’s past and future institutionalization.
Hegemonic power exerted by Brazil towards the region presupposes a certain degree of legitimacy, supported by other states (in this case, Mercosur member states), with consent of internal strata which occupy current hegemonic positions.
Regionalism in Europe is driven by economic efficiency and capital accumulation. In contrast, issues in the Americas, south of the Rio Grande, remain the old problems of dependency, barriers to development, and effective sovereignty.
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