F01 - Global OutlookReturn

Future of the European Union and its future directions should be the most important subject of the European Studies, which combine studies of Economy, Political Science, International Relations and other disciplines to study the European Integration Process in its complexity. This applies especially today, when the EU faces a huge amount of internal and external pressures. In stead, the European Studies, often focus on studying and analysing the current stage of European Integration Process and its historical development; they take it as it is, and as if its future depended only on the interaction between particular levels of it multi-level governance. Debate on Europe's future is, thus, rather simplified at the academic level, and a public discussion about the future of "our" European Integration thus often lacks important academic stimuli. The cause of this situation might be seen in seeking for the strong theoretical instrument, which could embrace the European Integration Process in its broadness and complexity and, simultaneously, connect it with the development of Global (or Gloablized) Economy and Society. In this paper, the authors will try to outline and emphasize that International (or Global, if the effects of globalisation should be especially stressed) Political Economy and its views on the theory of Regionalism might be the proper theoretical instrument to deepen the European Studies by the issues of EU's future in Global Economy. Their research of New Regionalism and especially of its current wave done so far, namely suggests that in spite of its marked specificity, the European Union can be examined in the New Regionalism perspective and that this analysis can bring valuable outcomes for the EU's future. Explanations of the current wave of regionalism offered by the Global Political Economy, together with the empirical study of regionalism, especially bring a systemic approach to the Global Economic Order, to the balance between market and state as well as to the political aspects of economic processes; all these are necessary for the EU's future directions' research.

As a consequence of the new regionalism a marked increase in the number of regional groupings can be observed which makes the preferential relations between states even more complicated and complex. One of such complex relationships, which did not come to being during the third wave of regionalism but was strongly supported by it, is subregionalism - simply said, overlapping of regional integrations. The aim of this comparative study is to analyze a current state and development of subregionalism within two region-wide integrations - the European Union (EU) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) - and on the basis of this analysis to compare the effects of this phenomenon in both regions. Some general conclusions enabling an assessment of future development of subregionalism and its impact on regionalism in Europe and Asia are the main outcomes of the comparison.