Interregionalism And The European Union

Is the EU isolated within the emergent multipolar world? Concentrating on interregional relations and focussing on the European Union’s (EU) evolving international role with regards to regional cooperation, this innovative book collects a set of fresh empirical analyses of interregional ties binding the EU with its Eastern and Southern neighbourhood, as well as with Asia, Africa and the Americas. The 25 leading authors from 5 continents have contributed original and diverse chapters and the book advances a novel theoretical ‘post-revisionist’ approach beyond both the Eurocentrism of ‘Europe First’ perspectives as well as the Euroscepticism of those advocating to simply move ’Beyond Europe’. After a Foreword by A. Acharya, the book’s five sections reflect the main drivers of EU interregional policies: The European Union as a Sophisticated Laboratory of Regional and Interregional Cooperation (with chapters by M. Telò, L. Fawcett and T. Risse), De Facto Drivers of Regionalism (F. Ponjaert, M. Shu, A. Valladão and C. Jakobeit), De Jure Drivers of Regionalism (S. Lavenex, G. Finizio, C. Jakobeit, R. Coman, C. Cocq & S. Teo L-Shah), Cognitive Drivers of Regionalism (J. Rüland, E. Fitriani, S. Stavridis & S. Kingah, P. Bacon), and Instrumental Drivers of Regionalism (B. Delcourt, C. Olsson & G. Müller, A. Malamud & P. Seabra and L. Fioramonti & J. Kostopoulos).

This book has two mutually reinforcing aims/parts. The first aim is to contribute to a more productive debate between different theoretical standpoints. There is surprisingly little theoretical and conceptual debate in this burgeoning field, which is one major reason for the failure to fully grasp the diversity of today’s interregionalism. Too often theorists speak past each other, without really engaging with alternative theoretical perspectives or competing research results. Indeed, this book constitutes the first systematic attempt to bring together leading theories and theorists of interregionalism. Leading scholars from around the world develop their own distinctive theoretical perspectives on interregionalism, with a particular emphasis on the dynamic relationship between regionalism and interregionalism. These highly acclaimed theorists have all been associated over the years with a variety of disciplines, institutions, schools and debates and so bring a rich set of insights and connections to this pioneering project. The second part of the book ‘unpacks’ and problematises the region, the driving actors and institutions that are engaged in interregional relations. There is a strong tendency in the field to treat regions as coherent units actors in an interregional relationship, and such simplified notions about ‘regions’ and ‘regional organisations’ necessarily result in superficial and misleading understandings of interregionalism. This part of the book connects the theoretical discussion in the first part with a manageable empirical object.

A new look at the European Union's role as a global actor, with special focus on the theme of interregionalism in its relations with key regions around the world: Africa, Asia, South America, North America and Central-Eastern Europe. This new collection clearly shows how, since the end of the Cold War, the European Union has gradually expanded its external relations and foreign policies and become a global actor in world politics. During the last decade interregionalism has become a key component of the EU’s external relations and foreign policies. In fact, the EU has quickly become the hub of a large number of interregional arrangements with a number of regions around the world. Promoting regional and interregional relations not only justifies and enhances the EU’s own existence and efficiency as a global ‘player’, the strategy also promotes the legitimacy and status of other regions, giving rise to a deepening of cross-cutting interregional relations in trade and economic relations, political dialogue, development cooperation, cultural relations and security cooperation. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Journal of European Integration.

Using a framework of norm diffusion to determine the EU's international actorness in the context of its relations with ASEAN, this book provides a timely and in-depth analysis of EU-ASEAN relations. By investigating three aspects of regionalism support by the EU it presents a comprehensive account of norm diffusion between the EU and ASEAN.

A new look at the European Union's role as a global actor, with special focus on the theme of interregionalism in its relations with key regions around the world: Africa, Asia, South America, North America and Central-Eastern Europe. This new collection clearly shows how, since the end of the Cold War, the European Union has gradually expanded its external relations and foreign policies and become a global actor in world politics. During the last decade interregionalism has become a key component of the EU’s external relations and foreign policies. In fact, the EU has quickly become the hub of a large number of interregional arrangements with a number of regions around the world. Promoting regional and interregional relations not only justifies and enhances the EU’s own existence and efficiency as a global ‘player’, the strategy also promotes the legitimacy and status of other regions, giving rise to a deepening of cross-cutting interregional relations in trade and economic relations, political dialogue, development cooperation, cultural relations and security cooperation. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Journal of European Integration.

'The European Union and Interregionalism' is the most comprehensive study of interregionalism to date, providing a vigorous analysis of its role and functions in the architecture of global governance, and of the place of qualitative differences between regional actors in shaping interregional relationships. Regionalism itself is an established phenomenon, with regional politics becoming increasingly institutionalised. As a result, with the EU as forerunner, regions have begun to exert themselves in the external policy space, developing networks of relations including, prominently, interregional relations. We have thus seen the emergence of a new governance space at the interregional level, banded on one side by sites of global governance, and on the other by governance at the regional level. Important questions challenging the current literature of these interregional structures include, do interregional relationships conform to theoretical expectations?, and what patterns of engagement and interaction are emerging within the EU's core interregional partnerships, and are these replicated elsewhere? Exploring interregionalism beyond the core Europe-Asia partnerships, including the network of relations centred on ASEAN, this book should be read by all those engaged in consideration of interregional structures to understand how patterns of EU-centred interregional engagement, rather than being sui generis, are increasingly evident in the broader network of interregional relationships

'The European Union and Interregionalism' is the most comprehensive study of interregionalism to date, providing a vigorous analysis of its role and functions in the architecture of global governance, and of the place of qualitative differences between regional actors in shaping interregional relationships. Regionalism itself is an established phenomenon, with regional politics becoming increasingly institutionalised. As a result, with the EU as forerunner, regions have begun to exert themselves in the external policy space, developing networks of relations including, prominently, interregional relations. We have thus seen the emergence of a new governance space at the interregional level, banded on one side by sites of global governance, and on the other by governance at the regional level. Important questions challenging the current literature of these interregional structures include, do interregional relationships conform to theoretical expectations?, and what patterns of engagement and interaction are emerging within the EU's core interregional partnerships, and are these replicated elsewhere? Exploring interregionalism beyond the core Europe-Asia partnerships, including the network of relations centred on ASEAN, this book should be read by all those engaged in consideration of interregional structures to understand how patterns of EU-centred interregional engagement, rather than being sui generis, are increasingly evident in the broader network of interregional relationships

International Relations Studies Series, 9 (International Studies Library, 20) The proliferation of regionalism in recent decades has led to increased relations between regional groups in different parts of the world, and the European Union (EU) has been central to the development of this new interregional phenomenon. This book sets out to analyse the rise and fall of interregionalism in EU external relations by looking at how the EU has strategically pursued interregionalism over time, and at how this has subsequently worked in practice. The EU, in the 1990s, strategically employed interregionalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America and this book takes the specific case of Latin America to chart the course of EU interregionalism. Table of Contents Introduction: The Rise and Fall of Interregionalism: The Case of the European Union and Latin America Chapter 1: Interregionalism in the Global Political Economy Chapter 2: The European Union And Interregionalism Chapter 3: The European Union Complex Interregional Model In Latin America Chapter 4: European Union - Mercosur Relations: The Seeds Of The Fall Of Interregionalism Conclusions: The Rise and Fall of Interregionalism in EU External Relations Bibliography 1. Primary Sources 2. Interviews 3. Secondary Sources Appendices "This volume makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the ways in which the European Union engages with other regions in the global arena. Its original framework, based on the analysis of 'complex inter-regionalism', provides a strong focus for evaluation of the multi-level processes that have emerged from the EU's pursuit of regional partnerships, and its detailed empirical study of EU relations with Latin America is a model of the ways in which such work should be carried out. The book will be useful not only to academics and students working in this area, but also to policy-makers in a variety of contexts." Mike Smith at the University of Loughborough About the Author(s)/Editor(s) Alan Hardacre Ph.D. in International Relations, Loughborough University is a Lecturer at the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands. He has published in the areas of EU External Relations, Better Regulation and Lobbying in the EU.