This article notes a lack of communication between two broad schools of scholarship on regional integration: EU studies and analyses of the ‘new regionalism’. It is argued that the existence of this ...divide, which is perpetrated by proponents of both schools, is an impediment to the elaboration of useful theory as well as being a missed opportunity. The benefits and problems of using the EU as a comparator in studies of regionalism are assessed. While the mistake of giving the EU analytical primacy as a benchmark or model is to be avoided, it is argued that careful treatment of accumulated insights from EU studies (including a proper re‐inspection of classical integration theory) brings clear methodological and meta‐theoretical benefits for the project of comparative regional integration scholarship.
The debates on regionalism have been polarized between European Union (EU) scholars and non-EU scholars, with the assumption being that regionalism within the EU and other regions of the world are ...quite distinct, with little to be learnt from dialogue with each other. This book challenges such assumptions and calls for a genuine debate between scholars of regionalism.
This book demonstrates that more can and needs to be learned about regional integration all over the world through comparison and reflection on specific regional trends. Beginning with a theoretically driven introduction, leading experts in the field are brought together to offer a series of case studies on regional integration within Latin America, Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. In Part III the authors investigate the links between the EU and selected other regional organisations and processes, exploring the dynamics through which these interregional relations are developing and the implications they have for the study of contemporary regionalism/regionalisation both inside and beyond the continent of Europe. The conclusions set out a challenging research agenda for comparative studies in the field.
Addressing one of the under-explored aspects of EU studies, the EU's coexistence with other pan-continental/regional organisations in the European continent, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of regionalism, IPE, European Studies and international politics.
Clearly discusses the impact and uses of interest representation in the development of the EU system. * Examines the complexities of representation at EU level, a vital issue for potential lobbyists ...and interest groups * Charts new trends and issues such as enlargement, Europeanization and Central and Eastern Europe * Contributions by acknowledged experts with a proven track record of research and publication in this field, including seven current and past practitioners of EU politics with experience as lobbyists from either institutional, NGO or corporate perspectives * Places interest representation in its historical and theoretical context.
As a strategy for tackling the ‘democratic deficit’, attention is increasingly shifting towards the ‘Europeanization’ of civil society, the latter being traditionally viewed as a means both to limit ...state power and to promote intra‐citizenry solidarity. However, this attempted change requires in turn actors who are both able and willing to act as agents of political socialization in the context of EU policy‐making. This article examines the emphasis placed by both EU actors and the current academic literature on NGOs as such agents. Drawing on an analysis of similar claims made in development policy, I isolate the main indicators of NGOs' ability to foster the Europeanization of civil society via political socialization and put forward seven key tests of their ability to carry out this function in the EU context. These are then evaluated against the results of original empirical investigations. I argue that NGOs are currently unsuited to the task of Europeanizing civil society thanks to their inability to promote the political socialization of their supporters. As a consequence that task requires EU‐level institutional reform informed by iterated public dialogue, as well as change in the working practices of NGOs.
Flexibility is emerging as a key dynamic of European integration. This shift towards flexibility has major implications. The EU will have to cope with more complexity and less transparency. It also ...affects the way in which European integration is viewed since it makes a state-like outcome to the process far less likely. Alex Warleigh looks at why flexibility has become such an important feature of the EU. He examines its history, and puts forward a typology to explain the models by which it is understood. He goes on to explore the hazards of flexibility and to look at what it has to offer, arguing that it is best seen as a desirable part of the integration process rather than as a problem. Flexibility, he argues is an important mechanism for the realization of the EU’s slogan “unity in diversity”.
In this contribution I examine three regions outside Europe, all of which have used forms of differentiated integration as a means to solve otherwise intractable problems and/or export their policy ...preferences, ideals and bargains to key external actors. I argue that if we examine the European Union (EU) as one case of regional integration/regionalism among many, rather than a unique entity, we can develop a more nuanced view of differentiated integration in the EU which accepts it as an enduring, and possibly permanent, feature of the EU.
This article argues that European Union Studies (EUS) provides a useful resource for
scholars engaged in the rethinking of international relations in the era of an
emerging global polity which has ...been neglected for reasons of what might be called
discipline blindness. More precisely, my claim is that EUS can help IR scholars ask
new and useful questions about the nature, development and functioning of the
emerging global polity. This is because EUS has already drawn on, and adapted,
comparative politics to produce a significant body of work which can act as a
transmission belt for ideas, concepts and approaches between the study of
‘domestic politics’ and the study of ‘international
relations’, and thus begin to show IR scholars how these tools can be
adapted and used to study politics in post- and transnational contexts.
