Research Papers

Existing work on ‘awkward’ states in regional integration has tended to focus on single countries, or single regions, and thus has not been able to contribute optimally to comparative discussion of regional integration. Although this situation is changing, much work remains to be done if scholars are to generate an understanding of what makes states ‘awkward’ within their regions which is capable of widespread application. In this paper we focus not on the policy preferences of states, but instead on cultural factors such as states’ visions of their respective regional integration processes and whether they are considered by their partners to evince clear regional belonging. Our hypothesis is based on the observation that much of the perceived ‘awkwardness’ of particular states in regional integration ultimately relates to how these states are considered by their partners rather than from their objective stances towards their region(s): France, for example, is not generally considered an ‘awkward’ European despite the Empty Chair crisis, the Cresson scandal, or the ‘non’ to the Constitutional Treaty. Drawing evidence from the cases of Australia in Asian regionalism and the United Kingdom in the EU, we argue for a constructivist approach towards understanding the widespread phenomenon of regional ‘awkwardness’.