Subregionalism Within the EU with Special Regard to the Groupings of which the Czech Republic is a Member

Abstract

As a consequence of the third wave of regionalism, the so called new regionalism, a marked increase in the number of regional groupings can be observed worldwide which makes the preferential relations between states even more complicated and complex. Within these relations those in which a regional grouping is one partner are the most 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. This development can be especially observed in the regions, where a region-wide integration scheme is being formed - such as the European Union in Europe. The aim of this study is to analyze a current state and development of subregionalism within the European Union (EU) and to analyze the effects of this phenomenon in the region. The Czech Republic, as the new member of the EU, is a member of several subregional groupings in Europe. Special regard will be taken to those groupings, where the Czech Republic is an active member. Especially the future development of these groupings will be the main expected outcome of this study. An institutional and political view (analysis of agreements and documents of regional groupings) is the primal approach of this study to the problem of subregionalism and its aim is to identify integration's state, future and relation to the dominant integration. As regionalism is the main theoretical approach of this study, it will examine only the institutionalised integration within the area and will thus omit the regional processes within the EU (the so called euroregions) or the cross-boarder cooperation between particular pairs of member states.subregionalism, regionalism, new regionalism, European Union, Czech Republic