EVOLUTION OF THE NOTION OF REGION IN THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL REGIONS
The research is dedicated to the study of methodological problem of emergence and evolution of the notion of “region” within political studies of international regional systems and institutions. Transformation of approaches and multiple aspect under investigation by the scholars who study international regionalism, define importance of terminology for these research endeavors. The notion of the region is central for understanding of the role of territory in research of international regionalism. Thus it is crucial to define directions and outcomes of transformations of the notion to succeed in studies of international political issues of regional systems. The article investigates evolution of the approaches to the term “region” from the first encounters made by political geographers to define international regions as a phenomenon of international relations research, to the emergence of specific research approaches by international relations scholars to the essence of region in the study of international issues, international regionalism and regionalisation. The very emergence of the international regionalism as a separate phenomenon within international relations area depend upon multiplicity of definitions of the region, elaborated by scholars throughout history of the discipline. The article uncovers link between the notion of the region in the international political research and evolution of approaches to the study of the phenomenon of international regionalism, multiple aspects of regionalism in international relations, complexity of the regionalism typology amid international cooperation evolution in different parts of international system.