International Studies Quarterly · 1973 · 261 citations · 17 references
Social SciencesGeographyRegional DevelopmentRegional IntegrationRegional StudiesRegional Economic DevelopmentTheories Of Regional IntegrationRegional Systems
Banks identified five themes in applying systems perspectives to regional studies—macro, neofunctional, social communication, comparative integration theories, and broad systems categories—while the regional subsystem approach was only briefly mentioned. This note aims to discuss problems associated with the regional subsystem approach. The study compares and dissects definitions of the basic analytical unit from 22 analysts published between 1958 and 1971. A.
Michael Banks (1969: 351-352) has delineated five themes in the application of the various systems perspectives to regional studies: (1) the macro approach to the identification of regions using aggregate data; (2) the neofunctional approach; (3) the social communication approach; (4) the comparison of existing integration theories witlh other tlheories of international processes; and (5) the application of broad categories of systems theory to regional studies. While Banks briefly discussed the final theme, hereafter labeled the regional subsystem approach, very little of his review explicitly touched upon the problems encountered by this particular analytical mode.' This research note will selectively discuss some of these problems. The specific and modest objectives are twofold: (a) The definitions of the basic analytical unit, offered by 22 published (1958-1971) analysts, will be compared and dissected. A
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