Regionalization of the World: Comparing Regional Integrations (Geography and Demography: the World in Its Division)

On the world map, macro-regions or global regions have gradually emerged, with varying degrees of success and following different trajectories. The authors of this book attempt to determine whether, within the context of globalization, these macro-regions have become an additional level in the spatial deployment of numerous actors, and whether they have come to stand between the national and global levels.

This question has arisen because the increasing scales of trade, environmental problems, migration routes, energy distribution, the construction of major infrastructures etc. transcend national boundaries and are leading states to implement macro-regional cooperation.

The authors ask whether these large regional groupings are becoming genuine territories and are the fruit of in-depth regional integration – economic, institutional, legal, normative, political, cultural and in terms of identity. If so, these global regions would therefore become referents that make sense and take root in social representations.

Pierre Beckouche is Professor of Geography at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. His research focuses on economic geography, the regionalization of globalization and trans-Mediterranean relations. He has chaired the Scientific Council of the GIS "Collège International des Sciences du Territoire".

Yann Richard is Professor of Geography at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. His research focuses on the spatial dynamics of the margins of the former USSR, regional integration, the European Union, and war as part of the Sorbonne War Studies project.