From Regionalism To Globalism

With the end of the cold war and the development of globalization, development problem increasingly become the ultimate root of various conflicts in international community, and thus become the common concern of all countries in the world. Development assistance to or cooperation with the underdeveloped countries is one of important measures adopted by the developed countries, among which is European Union.The development cooperation policy of European Union has passed through three phases. The initiative phase was from 1957 to the early 1970s, during which regionalism was so prevalent that development assistance from the EU was only transferred to the countries in Africa which had special ties with the member states and trade privileges were the main channel to supply such assistance. The second phase began at the early seventies and lasted to the end of 1980s. During this period, the number of countries and fields which involved in development cooperation activities with EU had increased, which embodied to some extent the influence of globalism on the policy of development cooperation. After 1990, the development cooperation entered the third phase. Regionalism was gradually replaced by globalism during this period, which was manifested by the following changes: geographic scope and commitment of development cooperation has expanded, common strategic goals and policy framework were established, the fields of development cooperation were diversified, and concerted policies at all levels were emphasized.The rise of globalism on development cooperation policy resulted form outside and inside factors. The changes of international structure and of the development view are the outside factors for its rise. As for the inside factors, the need to develop economy of the European Union and to expand the united Europe are the decisive factors for the rise of globalism. These factors will continue to exert influence on the development cooperation policy of EU and thus global and comprehensive development cooperation policy will be promoted with effect.