Home > Conferences and Events > Calendar of Events > Portsmouth 2007 > Research Session 5

Exchanging Ideas on Europe 2007
Common Values - External Policies
UACES 37th Annual Conference and 12th Research Conference

Research Session 5

UACES reserves the right at all times to make changes to the programme where necessary.

Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | Session 5 | Session 6 | Session 7 | Main Programme

Tuesday, 4 September 2007 (15:30-17:00)

The panels listed in the table below are followed by the abstracts for each of the papers.

Bluth, Stefanie (University of Leeds, stefaniebluth[a]yahoo.de)

Human Rights versus Trade: A Normative Approach to EU Relations towards China

China is of particular interest as a trade partner for the EU; it also challenges their official commitment to human rights and democracy due to violations of these norms. China is strategically important to the EU as it is one the top five trade partners for the region. The EU concerned about the human rights abuses in China committed by the Chinese government and codified within the Chinese legal system. The EU raises this at various times in negotiations with the People’s Republic. The period from 1989 to 2001 was chosen, because in 1989 demonstrations at Tiananmen Square against human rights breaches were violently ended by the Chinese government. This incident brought the Chinese human rights situation to the attention of the world. In 2001 China joined the WTO and thus automatically benefited from the most favoured nation status, except for several trade sectors such as textiles or agriculture, which were excluded from the status. China’s application for membership in the WTO and most-favoured nation status in the time after Tiananmen until 2001 is a particular example for the EU dilemma of economic interests versus normative commitment.
This paper will analyse how the European Union reacted on human rights violation in China from 1989 to 2001 how this effected the application and renewing for the most favoured nation status. In these case studies the following will be tested:
- The official commitment to values of democratic cosmopolitanism, in particular to human rights in relations with the country of the case study. The European Union, for instance, has committed itself to a human rights clause.
- Democratic and cosmopolitan values are challenged by obvious violations of human rights. The case study will analyse the human rights breaches in the political context in which they occur.
- Then an assessment will be made as to the extent to which the financial and economic interests dominate these relations and override human rights concerns. This would then provide a clear indication as to whether relations are best described as being governed by neo-liberal principles.

Brunazzo, Marco (Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy, marco.brunazzo[a]unitn.it)

Joint paper with Vincent della Sala

Still Saved by Europe? The Treaty of Rome and European Integration in the Italian Imagination

Few governments of EU member states have been as much able to rely on the capital provided by being one of the founders of the European project and on the groundswell of popular identification with Europe as those in Italy. The myth of its role in shaping the future of Europe was an important part of Italy’s post-war economic, political and social reconstruction. The myth of “being saved by Europe” by being brought into the European project by the Treaty of Rome helped contribute to the legitimacy of the European Union in Italian public opinion. The notion that Italy needed Europe has persisted into the new century but a different dynamic has emerged since the early 1990s. While Italian political leaders contributed to the legitimacy of the European Union by invoking its positive role in Italy’s political and social development until the 1990s, they have since begun to “consume” that legitimacy by placing on the EU’s doorstep responsibility for a range of unpopular policy and political decisions.
The aim of the paper is to examine whether the myth that has been so much of post-war Italy – that Italy was saved by Europe and the Treaty – continues to capture the Italian imagination, and to do this by looking at the 50th anniversary alongside growing tension between Italian policy performance and European commitments. It will argue that whereas the Treaty of Rome was once an opportunity to enhance legitimacy for both Europe and Italian institutions, it is increasingly seen as a constraint by many political and social forces.

Champagne, Hélène (University of Portsmouth, champagnehelene[a]hotmail.com)

The Impact of the French 'No' on EU African Policy: Can Post-Colonial France Still Drive EU Integration?

Since the French and the Dutch ‘No’ to the ratification of the constitutional Treaty in May 2005, a debate emerged across the EU on the nature of the European project. But discussions tended to focus rather on domestic issues even though the Treaty provided for a broad reform of the EU external relations service.
There is therefore a need to look at the impact of the current European constitutional crisis on the EU on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in Africa. Because of the frozen process of ratification, the creation of a common European diplomacy remains on hold. As a result, the discrepancy between an expanding political EU agenda in Africa and the lack of diplomatic tools appears ever more problematic.
This paper looks at how the rising European interest in political stability and involvement in conflict management and resolution in West Africa is not followed by a parallel institutional evolution in West Africa. Relations between Europe and West Africa remain therefore shaped by the traditional bilateral relations between the former colonies and the colonial powers, a far cry from the official aims of multilateralisation.

Charbonneau, Bruno (Laurentian University, Canada, bcharbonneau[a]laurentian.ca)

Dreams of Empire: France, Europe and the New Interventionism in Africa

References to Empire, and pervasive fears of it, are quite common in the debates surrounding French and/or European military interventions on the African continent. These interventions, however, are sometimes portrayed as the manifestations of Empires; as a new liberal interventionism. This paper seeks primarily to examine the ongoing Europeanization of these military interventions through an analysis of France’s attempts to instrumentalize it for its own purposes. The French intervention in Côte d’Ivoire will be our case study because it underlines apparent contradictions between the transformative goals of Europeanization and the practices of French neocolonialism. The intervention took the form of police action because, on the one hand, it aspired to maintain an internal order, and, on the other hand, it attempted to uphold French hegemony. But most importantly, the case shows that the new interventionism agenda cannot escape that these postcolonial African states are a product of the French colonial Republic. Functionally, France is still the only state with the economic, political, and security links to places like Côte d’Ivoire that both constructed their current political crisis and that implore France (above everyone else) to take the lead role in intervention. It is the ideational mindset of most postcolonial African elites to both use French thinking and play on France’s consciousness to further their individual interests. Therefore, any effort to build African peacekeeping forces or some EU-Africa cooperation on matters of conflict prevention and resolution must understand that reinforcing the “right” or “duty” of intervention of past colonial masters can have serious consequences like prolonging or exacerbating violence as in Côte d’Ivoire.

Diez, Thomas (University of Birmingham, t.diez[a]bham.ac.uk)

Joint paper with Dr Michelle Pace

Normative Power Europe and Conflict Transformation

The starting point for this paper is twofold. On the one hand, the authors have recently been involved in a study on European integration and border conflict transformation, which established conditions under which integration and association can have a desecuritising effect on border conflicts. One core condition was an image of the EU as a positive force in world politics. On the other hand, both authors have been involved in the debate on normative power Europe and have argued that this concept is better seen as a discursive self-construction imbuing the integration project with new force and establishing an EU identity against Others, rather than an objective analytical concept. In this paper, we explore the degree to which this self-construction of the EU is shared by others in international society, and in particular in conflict areas. Our basic hypothesis is that the EU's chances to act as a mediator, or to transform conflicts through association agreements and other forms of partnerships, largely depends on this acceptance of the notion of normative power Europe. The paper uses the cases of Cyprus and Israel/Palestine as examples, but also draws from a wider set of cases. Its aim is to develop a theoretical framework with which the basic hypothesis can be studied, to discuss initial examples, and to draw out the political and normative consequences from the relationship between normative power Europe and conflict transformation, especially in light of our earlier criticism of the EU's self-construction.

Doleys, Thomas (Kennesaw State University, USA, tdoleys[a]kennesaw.edu)

Looking Back, Looking Ahead: 50 Years of EU Competition Policy

As the 50^th anniversary of the Rome Treaties approaches it is an appropriate time to reflect on the history of the European Union – and, in particular, how this unique exercise in regional governance has evolved. One area that is ripe for examination is the Community’s competition policy regime. The EEC Treaty established what could at best be described as an inchoate framework for the preservation of competition in the common market. The substantive rules were in places vague and ambiguous, and the institutional apparatus established to apply those rules lacked administrative or procedural coherence. And yet, half a century on, one now finds in the EU one of the most developed and effective competition policy regimes in the world. Much of the credit for this transformation goes to the efforts of the European Commission. This paper seeks to explain the contours of that transformation and, in particular, the Commission’s role in facilitating it. To do this, the argument draws on insights from incomplete contracting theory and principal-agent analytics. The concludes by looking ahead at the challenges that still stand before the Commission and its effort to both drive and steer the future direction of the policy regime.

Eralp, Ulas Doga (George Mason University, ueralp[a]gmu.edu)

European Partnership as an Instrument of Peacebuilding: The Case of Bosnia Herzegovina

The essence of peacebuilding lies in transforming the negative conflictual relationships into constructive ones. The EU membership perspective embedded in the European Partnership with Bosnia Herzegovina fails to provide the necessary momentum for such transformation. The sovereignty deficit of Bosnia manifested in its omnipresent asymmetric relations with the European Community curtails any possible boost in the reform process. Stabilization and Association Process as an instrument of European Partnership further underlines this dependency syndrome of Bosnian politics. The Office of the High Representative of the International Community that ran the country since the end of the war is expected to leave once BiH is deemed eligible to sign the SAA by the European Commission. Yet Bosnians of all three entities should be let alone for a while to decide on a common state identity and orientation of that state. Otherwise a hasty switch from an authoritative OHR rule to a rather dictated “partnership” with Brussels will not give the opportunity to Bosnian citizens to deal with the past and reconstruct a functioning society on their own.

Gehler, Michael (Stiftung Universität Hildesheim, Germany, gehler[a]uni-hildesheim.de)

Austrian Political Party Elites in Transnational European Networks 1945-2000

This paper will compare the European networking of Austrian socialists and Christian democrats and assess its impact on Austrian European and foreign policy-making between 1945 and 2000. Austrian socialists had a longer history of networking. With their contacts – for example between Kreisky, Brandt and Palme – they succeeded in breaking out of the policy ‘ghetto Europe’ with an agenda focused on East-West détente and the North-South conflict. The Christian democrats cultivated contacts in the NEI, the EUCD and the EDU to overcome Austria’s relative isolation as a neutral country between East and West, but without much success. Both parties intensified their networking with a view to EU accession. During the formation of the ÖVP-FPÖ government in 2000, the European socialists coordinated their approach, which backfired for the SPÖ in domestic politics, however. The ÖVP initially cultivated both East-Central European (Busek) and Western European-Atlantic (Mock, Khol) networks. Their integration in the EPP was helpful for overcoming the isolation crisis during the EU-14 boycott.

Gibert, Marie (School of Oriental & African Studies)

The European Union and Its Member-States in Africa: On the Way to Europeanization?

Abstract to be confirmed.

Kaiser, Wolfram (University of Portsmouth, wolfram.kaiser[a]port.ac.uk)

Transnational Christian Democracy and the Formation of ‘Core Europe’ 1947-51

The historiography of the origins of European Union has been dominated by diplomatic and economic historical accounts that focus almost exclusively on the bargaining of security and economic interests by Western European states for explaining the formation of the first ‘core Europe’ organisation, the ECSC, in 1951-2. In contrast, this paper argues that the transnational party cooperation of European Christian democrats played a crucial role in determining the contours of ‘core Europe’, especially regarding the linked dimensions of its supranationality and geographical limitation excluding Britain, with crucial long-term effects on the evolution of the present-day EU. Also challenging some important assumptions of recent political science explanations of European integration such as by Parsons and Moravcsik, for example, it emphasizes the role of the transnational, not just national dimension and of ideas, not just interests, in determining the first real ‘grand bargain’ after 1945.

Kayali, Bahri Özgür (University of Manchester/Yeditepe University, Turkey, ozgurkayali[a]garanti.com.tr)

The Effect of Modernisation on the European Competition Authorities: The ECN Model

The Commission introduced its proposals on the revision of the Community antitrust rules with its White Paper on Modernisation in 1999. The process led to the adoption of Regulation 1/2003 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 EC and complementary Notices. The Regulation includes many controversial issues, one of which is the introduction of a network of public authorities (the Commission and the NCAs), working in close cooperation regarding the enforcement of Community antitrust rules (the ECN Model). This aspect of the new system raised issues, such as uniform and consistent application of the Community antitrust rules, the modalities of cooperation, and division of competences etc.
The assumption was that the new public enforcement regime would lead to a more effective application of Community antitrust rules by public authorities. Does such assumption hold? In order to ensure an effective operation of the system, rules with regard to uniformity and consistency, modalities of cooperation (exchange of information and consultation), and division of competences are introduced. This paper explores the ECN model including a brief history, the policies and legal rules, and the actual operation of the system. It attempts to answer the question of effectiveness of the public enforcement of Community antitrust regime.

Kennard, Ann (University of the West of England, Bristol, ann.kennard[a]uwe.ac.uk)

The Balkans Peace Park Project as a Paradigm for Transboundary Conflict Resolution

There are many different kinds of boundaries discernible in the region around the new eastern and south-eastern edges of the European Union – state, national, ethnic, social, economic – and these are anything but coterminous. All these boundaries coincide, along with major environmental concerns, in the region surrounding the ‘Accursed Mountains’, a range lying across the troubled borders of Montenegro, Kosovo/a and northern Albania. This beautiful and remote region has suffered due to political division and war throughout the last century and is now threatened with pollution, deforestation and population exodus.
The paper will seek to show how voluntary organisations and international institutions are helping to assist the inhabitants of such a region of conflict and potential environmental degradation to set up lines of communication and interaction, in order to ensure the survival of natural and social habitats. With designation as a Transboundary Protected Area, there are immense possibilities for eco-tourism as an economic lifeline, as well as a changed territorial discourse about boundaries, identity and cooperation.

Knudsen, Ann Christina (University of Aarhus, Denmark, alknudsen[a]hum.au.dk)

Agricultural Policy Networks and the Common Agricultural Policy in the 1960s.

Several kinds of policy networks were constituted at the European level along with the creation of the common agricultural policy in the 1960s, and such policy networks have had a marked influence on the governing of this dominant policy area ever since. While European integration scholars have debated the role and impact of these pioneering agricultural policy networks since Lindberg (1963) first identified the entrepreneurship of sub- and supranational actors in this area, there exits practically no historical studies that bring in new evidence about the origins of these policy networks in agriculture: how they were created, who they were, how some policy networks interacted with the Community’s institutions on an informal basis, while other policy networks were created to formally manage and implement the CAP. This paper will provide new evidence towards this, and aims to nuance the understanding of national and transnational policy networks in the European policy process.

Mavromatidis, Fotis (Loughborough University, f.mavromatidis[a]lboro.ac.uk)

The Case of EU Hegemony in the Western-Balkans within the Framework of Political Economy

More than a decade has passed since the Dayton agreement that signalled the active EU policy in the region of Western Balkans (W-B). During these years, the EU has developed a variety of strategies and instruments for the integration of the W-B into Western structures. Moreover, through its growing intervention in the region, the EU manages to control the politico-economic life of the W-B and to impose its policies unconstrained and to create an environment that seems to favour the hegemonic control of the European capital in the region and the creation of a regional market, which facilitates this hegemonic control.
Within this context, this paper argues that the EU policy in the region of former Yugoslavia may be used for the penetration of European capital in the region and its establishment as an hegemonic force. Particularly, by taking Germany as a case study we argue that the EU is providing the necessary means for German capital to dominate the region in a form of economic hegemony. Furthermore, the paper argues that this hegemonic attitude tends to become imperial, like in the past when the Western powers were competing for the control of the global economy.

Muller, Karis (Australian National University, karis.muller[a]anu.edu.au)

Europe’s Eldorado: A History of Europe’s Quest for Endless Energy Supplies

Interest in Africa as a source of energy for Europe (hydroelectric, gas, petrol, solar or wind) has revived in recent years. Today, as in the 1950s, geo-strategic concerns are paramount as Europeans collaborate in a quest for secure sources of energy other than those from the USSR/Russia and its neighbours and the unstable Middle East. Africa promised to be the ideal partner in this respect: electricity and petrol in return for Western advanced technology. Both sides would benefit from the exchange. This paper is less an account of available reserves or statistics; rather it analyses fantasies, ambitions, and grandiose projects past, present and planned, some of which have been realised. Today as yesterday, the solidarity and complementarity of the two continents is a leitmotif in both national and Europeanist speeches and texts. Today as then, Europeans denounce the perceived avidity of other powers interested in Africa’s energy supplies, insisting that they alone intend to share the benefits with the Africans.

Oviedo Doyle, Brendan (University of Dundee, boviedo[a]dundee.ac.uk)

The Complexities of the Working Relationship between Energy Regulators and Competition Authorities

In the last two decades electricity and natural gas (NG) markets have undergone a liberalization process. Competition was introduced where it was believed it could flourish. In order to achieve this, the restructuring of the then incumbent vertically integrated monopoly was necessary in order to enable entry of private undertakings into these markets.
It has been strongly argued that the creation of an independent regulator is necessary when implementing liberalization measures in electricity and NG markets. Moreover electricity and NG markets depend on networks for the transport of their products. These networks are currently considered to be natural monopolies. There is a general consensus that natural monopolies should be subject to regulation.
The creation of competitive markets justified the application of competition law. The special nature of electricity and NG networks will condition the chances for competition to develop in the competitive segments of these markets.
In order to achieve competitive electricity and NG markets, competition law and sector regulation need to be harmoniously applied by both Competition Authorities and Energy Regulators. In any case this paper intends to show first the differences between sector specific regulation and competition law in order to understand where there is a need for cooperation between Energy Regulators and Competition Authorities.

Pérez-Solórzano, Nieves (University of Bristol, n.perez-solorzano[a]bristol.ac.uk)

Interest Politics and the Convention

This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities that the Convention offered business interests by assessing their preferences, strategies and engagement in the deliberative process. Specifically, it will assess the participation of business interests in the light of their generally agreed centrality to the formative years of the integration process and through the normative lens of the discourse on participatory democracy and EU governance. This paper argues that the Convention experiment displays the traditional dynamics of constitution-making processes: organised interests are consulted at the drafting stage but they do not intervene in the decision-making process (i.e. the IGC). Moreover, this new phase of constitutionalisation has prompted business interests to define their priorities beyond narrow policy issues and to engage on the wider debate of participation and EU governance. The Convention became the framework for the articulation of business interests and their vision of the future of the EU.

Petrov, Peter (University of Manchester, pietro_bg[a]yahoo.com)

Joint paper with Dimitris Papadimitriou & Labinot Greicevci

To Build a State: Europeanisation, EU Actorness and State Building in Kosovo

This paper discusses the limits of the European Union’s role as a state builder in Kosovo following the NATO intervention in 1999. It builds on the conceptual literature on Europeanisation, EU actorness and conditionality to explore the EU’s multi-faceted presence in the area and its ability to shape Kosovo’s emerging statehood. In doing so the paper explores the way in which the EU strategy on the ground has been conditioned by: (a) the multiplicity of EU institutions and agencies that currently engage in the process of state-building in Kosovo; b) the presence of other powerful actors - namely NATO and the UN – with their own stakes and agendas in the area; and c) local constellations of power and particularly Kosovo’s political elites as these have been shaped by the conflict of the late 1990s and its aftermath. Hence, the paper studies, in a theoretically-informed manner, the ongoing international efforts to build Europe’s newest ‘state-in-waiting’ and sheds light onto an integral part of the European Union’s enlargement strategy in the Western Balkans.

Puchalska, Bogusia (University of Central Lancashire, bapuchalska[a]uclan.ac.uk)

Instant Europeanization? The Adjustment of New Member States to a Community of Values

The standards of democracy and set of values contained in the EU Treaties and European Convention of Human Rights have developed over 50 years since the commitment to "an ever closer union" in the preamble of the Treaty of Rome. In their process of integration the constitutional and legal-political systems of the new Central and Eastern European member states have had (and are still having) to undergo massive adjustments.
How is this systemic dynamic of Europeanization perceived and how is it progressing on the ground? To shed some light on this process the paper proposes to take a closer look at developments on the grass-root level of democratic politics and assess the impact of EU membership on these developments. Thus the concept of Europeanization will be used in a sense of collective commitment to goals and values perceived to be "European".

Robinson, Nick (University of Leeds, n.robinson[a]leeds.ac.uk)

The European Union: What, If Anything, Can Insights from the New Regional Approaches offer for studies of European Integration?

Recent EU scholarship has generally moved away from a focus on macro-theoretical questions centred on European integration, focusing instead on debates drawn from comparative politics (for an exception see recent attempts to re-invigorate neo-functionalism). Yet, perhaps paradoxically, scholars looking at integration in other parts of the world have recently embarked upon on macro-theoretical debates, centred in particular on the new regional approaches. These developments have led some EU scholars to ask whether or not insights from EU scholarship can help to enhance understanding of integration within these other parts of the world (see for example discussions of informal policy making or neo-functionalism). Yet what has been less well explored to date is the extent to which insights from the NRA can help to inform EU scholarship. This paper aims to address that gap, exploring the nature of the literature on the NRA and starting to sketch out some of the ways in which it might prove to be helpful for EU scholars.

Seeger, Sarah (Center for Applied Policy Research (CAP), Germany, sarah.seeger[a]lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

The Demos in the Debate: The Period of Reflection and the Slow Emergence of a Value Community

Since the rejection of the Constitution in two of the EU’s founding member states in spring 2005, much has been written about the gap between the European Union and its citizens. From many sides, the lack of a common European identity has been blamed for being responsible for the people’s antipathy towards the Union.
Since then, debates about values and principles have been started in almost every EU member state, all of them aiming at finding the key to Europe’s moral core. In March 2007, the “Declaration of Berlin” was to sum up the identity debate and become a symbol of Europe’s common moral denominator.
What can be observed is that, remarkably, the EU is not only trying to find an inclusive definition of its own character – the values it stands for – but defines itself increasingly through exclusive definitions – what Europe does not stand for. This kind of identity construction, highlighted by the highly controversial debate about Turkey’s possible accession, is familiar from the classical process of nation-building.
The paper wants to respond to the arguments of the no-demos-theory. Regarding the vitality of the public debates about Europe’s values und principles, it argues that this can indeed be seen as a remarkable step towards building a European demos. Rather than interpret the current lack of final consensus on European identity as an unsurmountable obstacle this should be regarded as an signal of how European citizens start to communicate about the same topic at the same time with similar intensity. This debate lays the ground for the slow, but constant emergence of a common European public space.

Sepos, Angelos  (University of Newcastle, a.sepos[a]ncl.ac.uk)

The Imperialization of the EU: The Case of the European Neighbourhood Policy

Important questions are raised regarding the purpose of the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in light of the emerging debates on the nature of Europe as a Neo-Medieval Empire, a Neo-Westphalian federation or a Post-Modern entity. On the one hand, the ENP has borrowed significantly from the principles and tools of its last enlargement policy, such as that of ‘political conditionality’, ‘financial aid’, ‘benchmarking and monitoring’ and has made similar promises such as that of democratic reform, economic prosperity, peace and security. On the other, given the comparatively deeper political and ethnic divisions in these countries, as well as weaker socio-economic conditions, it has designed new tools of engagement such as that of ‘differentiation’ and ‘joint ownership’ and it has stopped short of offering full membership to these countries resorting to the rhetoric of ‘sharing everything but institutions’ (Prodi, 2002) and more recently to that of ‘privileged partnerships’ (European Commission, 2004). This paper attempts to address these issues and questions that are raised from the evidently ambiguous approach of the EU towards its neighbouring countries. Is the ENP an attempt of the EU to put an end to the territorial expansion of the ‘European Empire’? Or is it the first step of a broader strategy of a gradual engagement – a ‘proximity policy’ – with these neighbouring countries with the ultimate aim of expanding the EU even further? To what extent is the EU on a ‘mission of civilization’ and a promoter of a ‘multinational/multicultural/multilingual polity’ and how is that linked with the ENP? How would theories of European integration explain such developments, and, ultimately, the notion of a ‘European Empire’?

Van Hecke, Steven  (University of Antwerp, Belgium, steven.vanhecke[a]ua.ac.be)

How Effective are European Party Networks? A Case Study of the Constitutional Treaty Negotiations

This paper analysis the impact of transnational political parties on EU policy-making. Particularly the party leaders’ meetings that take place at the eve of the European Council – so-called party summits in which national and transnational party presidents and government leaders of the same party family gather and discuss different issues at stake - have recently received increased attention in EU circles. They are said to have become important institutions in the complex decision making process of an enlarged EU. With regard to organisation, timing/frequency and composition, there is however a broad variety between the meetings of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats and Conservatives), the Party of European Socialists and the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party. Apart from this heterogeneity, the question remains how effective they are: do they really matter in terms of policy coordination (next to elite socialisation and information exchange)? This paper focuses on one but important case that has been on the agenda of those party summits: the European Convention (2002-2003) and the subsequent Constitutional Treaty that was finally agreed at the June 2004 European Council. In this paper, the analysis of the role played by transnational parties should make clear in which way and to what extent they have influenced the Constitutional Treaty negotiations.

Warleigh-Lack, Alex (Brunel University, alex.warleigh-lack[a]brunel.ac.uk)

Theorising Comparative Regionalisation: Interdisciplinarity and the Study of Regionalism in North America, South America and Africa

This paper investigates the theoretical challenges involved in the comparative study of regionalisation, with particular attention being devoted to a comparison of NAFTA, the AU and Mercosur. The paper begins with a brief assessment of the literature on comparative regionalisation, both in its ‘first wave’ form (classical integration theory) and in its more recent incarnation (the new regionalism approach), in order to set out its legacies, achievements and impact on the present state of scholarly work in the field. It then proceeds to discuss the principal barriers to the development of a conceptual framework for the comparative study of regionalisation, discussing issues of interdisciplinarity, feasibility of comparison, mutual learning and diversity. Arguing that a middle-range perspective to the generation of a comparative theoretical framework is required, the paper proceeds to set a linked set of research questions, hypotheses and variables which are used to examine the three regions.

Last modified: Friday, 17 August 2007
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