In regional integration blocks such as the European Union (EU), previously exclusive national identities have been transformed through economic as well as political measures and developed a common transnational identification rooted in culture and history but now developed by civic policies of the states and the integrating institutions. This paper explores how regional integration blocks in South America, Southeast Asia and Africa deal with the challenges of nationalism and the attainment of a regional security community and highlights factors that facilitate and/or constraint the development of transnational identities, taking into account the historical and political conditions as well as the institutionalist structures of each respective region. In particular, the questions of the relationship between cultural and civic factors as a condition for transnational peace in the less developed South will be paid sufficient attention. Both sorts of factors, I argue, need to be present in order to establish regional societal security.
