Analysing Regionalism within International Law and Relations: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a Grossraum?

Abstract

This article argues for new way of addressing contemporary international law that is more adequate to both vital dynamic trends towards "regionalism" within international law, relations and politics, and the emergent possibility of a far more pluralistic "multipolar" legal order that-in both theory and practice-contrasts markedly with US-dominated hegemonic modes of regulation and high-handed unilateralism. To advance our argument, we draws upon classic Schmittian forms of Grossraum theory concerned to adapt traditional state-centric and purely horizontal conceptual types of international law interpretations to a form of international relations structured around regional ensembles, such as the European Union, NATO, the African Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). These historical trends are emerging out of an encompassing contemporary developmental tendency, including the decline in the traditional nation state posited as having equal status, and both the proliferation of new regional bodies and the strengthening of existing ones. Arguably, the emergence of the SCO from 2001 signals a new phase in multilateralism in the post-Cold War period that, when treated as a case study, allows us to "test out" the credibility of key aspects of Grossraum theory."… [T]he world will have to accommodate itself to the emergence of a few great multi-national units in which power will be mainly * Michael Salter is Professor of Law, Lancashire Law School, University of Central Lancashire, UK; Yinan Yin is an associate lecturer at Lancashire Law School. The paper was completed on 9 November 2014. The websites cited were current as of this date unless otherwise noted.

What does regional studies study? From sub-national to supra-national regional spaces orGrossraumof sovereign governance

“…These revisions will be ongoing as further case studies, such as those relating to the EU, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Arab League, are developed in the near future. What has been shown from the AU case study (and a related SCO case study published previously Salter & Yin, 2014) is that this theory still has the capacity to prompt a series of challenging questions. It is able to organise analytical concerns that -taken together -can enhance our understanding of fundamental analytical and geopolitical issues relating to how the "regionality of regions" is both set up and sustained as a process.…”

“…In brief, the concept of Grossraum (literally "large space") that is relevant to the "regionality of regions" has four major elements (Schmitt, 2011, p. 88): First, a distinct "political idea" with which the other member states broadly identify and accept as legitimate on the basis of their overlapping cultural traditions (Legg, 2011, p. 101;Salter and Yin, 2014).7 The second element is the presence of a shared and express commitment of members of a regional association not to deploy sovereign power outside the borders of their "own" recognised spatial region, that is, a doctrine of non-intervention by spatially alien powers (Bailes, et al, 2007, p. 6). Here, the pre-imperialist and moderately successful US Monroe Doctrine of 1823-99 provides an illustration and possible historical precedent.8 Third, within a viable Grossraum there will typically be an acceptance by a regional "leading power" of specific pan-regional security responsibilities (CARR, 1945, pp.…”

Mutual trust without a strong collective identity? Examining the Shanghai cooperation organization as a nascent security community

“…Indeed, this is part of the appeal of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for its members' mostly autocratic leaders. 43 The Central Asian states have embraced the Shanghai Spirit, and given their close cultural ties to Russia, the SCO has fostered its own unique collective identity. However with the inclusion of India and Pakistan, given the eclectic mix of cultures now found among its members (Christian, Confucian, Hindu, and Islamic) as well as the India-China and India-Pakistan rivalries, it may become exceedingly difficult for the organization to continue to develop shared values.…”

Analysis of Russian Trade Relations with Shanghai Cooperation Organization

“…SCO's economic impact on Russia is associated with the ability to fully load the capacity of the domestic industry and develop the national infrastructure, to open new markets for their products. Political -the beginning of a new world view of security that comprises such principles as mutual trust, disarmament and cooperation, a new stage in the multipolar world development [4].…”