regionalism

/ˈriʤənəlɪzəm/

Other forms: regionalisms

Regionalism is a political focus on one specific area of a country. In the U.S., the perceived difference between Southerners and New Englanders is one example of regionalism.

The term regionalism has many different meanings, depending whether you're talking about economics, international relations, local politics, or even language. It always has something to do with a relatively small (or homogeneous) geographical area, or region. Calling Coca-Cola "pop" or "soda" is a linguistic regionalism, language specific to a place. And focusing on the world's "Western" countries is also a kind of regionalism. Being loyal to just one region and its interests is yet another type of regionalism.

Definitions of regionalism

1. noun

   a foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas
   type of:

   foreign policy

   a policy governing international relations
2. noun

   loyalty to the interests of a particular region
   type of:

   loyalty, trueness

   the quality of being loyal
3. noun

   a feature (as a pronunciation or expression or custom) that is characteristic of a particular region
   type of:

   non-standard speech

   speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community