Comparative Regionalism: a New Research Agenda Börzel, Tanja A
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www.ssoar.info Comparative Regionalism: A New Research Agenda Börzel, Tanja A. Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Arbeitspapier / working paper Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Börzel, T. A. (2011). Comparative Regionalism: A New Research Agenda. (KFG Working Paper Series, 28). Freie Universität Berlin, FB Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften, Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft Kolleg- Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe". https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-374751 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer Deposit-Lizenz (Keine This document is made available under Deposit Licence (No Weiterverbreitung - keine Bearbeitung) zur Verfügung gestellt. Redistribution - no modifications). 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It means to enhance academic exchange as well as to strengthen and broaden existing basic research on internal and external diffusion processes in Europe and the European Union. All KFG Working Papers are available on the KFG website at www.transformeurope.eu or can be ordered in print via email to [email protected]. Copyright for this issue: Tanja A. Börzel Editorial assistance and production: Farina Ahäuser and Corinna Blutguth Börzel, Tanja A. 2011: Comparative Regionalism: A New Research Agenda, KFG Working Paper Series, No. 28, August 2011, Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG) “The Transformative Power of Europe“, Freie Universität Berlin. ISSN 1868-6834 (Print) ISSN 1868-7601 (Internet) This publication has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Freie Universität Berlin Kolleg-Forschergruppe “The Transformative Power of Europe: The European Union and the Diffusion of Ideas” Ihnestr. 26 14195 Berlin Germany Phone: +49 (0)30- 838 57033 Fax: +49 (0)30- 838 57096 [email protected] www.transformeurope.eu Comparative Regionalism | 3 Comparative Regionalism A New Research Agenda Tanja A. Börzel Abstract After the end of the Cold War, students of International Relations observed an expansion of inter-state activities at the regional level. Regional and sub-regional groupings appeared to gain momentum as the way in which countries cooperate and should cooperate to pursue peace, stability, wealth and social justice. The surge and resurgence of regionalism has triggered the proliferation of concepts and approaches. The focus of this paper will be on processes and structures of state-led regionalism driven by the delegation of policies and political authority to regional institutions. Based on this understanding of regionalism, the existing literature will be reviewed with regard to three general questions. These questions do not only re- quire research across regions but also allow developing a common research agenda to accumulate knowl- edge generated about specific regions. First, what are the outcomes of regionalism? How can we describe and compare the results of the delegation of policies and political authority? Second, what are the drivers of regionalism? Why do some governments choose to delegate policies and political authority while others do not? Finally, what are the internal effects of regionalism? How does the delegation of policies and politi- cal authority impact back on the domestic structures of the states involved? The Author Tanja A. Börzel is Professor of Political Science and holds the chair for European Integration at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin. Her research concentrates on questions of Governance, institutional change as a result of Europeanization as well as on the diffusion of ideas and policies within and outside of the European Union. Since October 2008, she coordinates the Research College “The Transformative Power of Europe” together with Thomas Risse. Contact: [email protected] 4 | KFG Working Paper No. 28| August 2011 Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. The History of Regionalism: European Integration and Beyond 6 3. The Outcome of Regionalism: Inter-, Supra- or Post-National? 8 3.1 From Cooperation to Integration 8 3.2 New and Old Regionalism 10 3.3 Persisting Diversity or Emerging Similarity? 13 4. The Drivers of Regionalism: Old Theories and New Puzzles 16 4.1 The Demand for Regionalism. It Is Not Only the Economy, Stupid! 16 4.2 The Supply of Regionalism. Interests, Power, and Norms 20 5. When Regionalism Hits Home. Policy Harmonization and Structural Change 22 5.1 From Second Image Reversed... 22 5.2 ... to Europeanization and Domestic Change 23 6. Conclusions 26 Literature 28 Comparative Regionalism | 5 1. Introduction1 After the end of the Cold War, students of International Relations (IR) observed an expansion of inter-state activities at the regional level. Regional and sub-regional groupings appeared to gain momentum as the way in which countries cooperate and should cooperate to pursue peace, stability, wealth and social jus- tice. The surge and resurgence of regionalism has triggered the proliferation of concepts and approaches. There is new and old regionalism, regionalism in its first, second and third generation; economic, monetary, security and cultural regionalism, state regionalism, shadow regionalism; cross-, inter-, trans-, and multi- regionalism; pure and hybrid regionalism; offensive, extroverted, open, or neoliberal as opposed to de- fensive, introverted, closed, resistance, regulatory and developmental regionalism; lower level and higher level regionalism; North, South, and North-South regionalism; informal and institutional regionalism – just to name a few of the labels the literature has come up with to account for the new trend in International Relations. The concept of regionalism is as diverse as its object of study. There is no commonly accepted definition of what a region is (cf. Sbragia 2008). Most would agree that a region implies some “geographical proxim- ity and contiguity” (Hurrell 1995: 353), and mutual interdependence (Nye 1965: vii). Some would add a certain degree of cultural homogeneity (Russett 1967), sense of community (Deutsch et al. 1957), or “regioness” (Hettne/Söderbaum 2000). Regionalism, then, refers to processes and structures of region- building in terms of closer economic, political, security and socio-cultural linkages between states and societies that geographically proximate. In political science, regionalism is often used synonymous with regional cooperation and regional integration, which could be seen as the opposite ends of a continuum along which regionalism may vary. It is beyond the scope of this paper to do justice to the various bodies of literature that have emerged in the field of (comparative) regionalism. The focus will be on processes and structures of state-led region- alism driven by the delegation of policies and political authority to regional institutions. Based on this more narrow understanding of regionalism, the existing literature will be reviewed with regard to three general questions. These questions do not only require research across regions but also allow developing a common research agenda to accumulate knowledge generated about specific regions. First, what are the outcomes of regionalism? How can we describe and compare the results of the delegation of policies and political authority? Second, what are the drivers of regionalism? Why do some governments choose to delegate policies and political authority while others do not? Finally, what are the internal effects of region- alism? How does the delegation of policies and political authority impact back on the domestic structures of the states involved? Before reviewing the state of the art on these three questions, the chapter will trace the history of the study of regionalism in IR. 1 This paper benefitted from comments and suggestions by Eugenia Conceicao-Heldt, Liesbet Hooghe, Vera van Hüllen, Jolyon Howorth, Anja Jetschke, Tobias Lenz, David Levi-Four, Ulrike Lorenz, Gary Marks, Thomas Risse, Osvaldo Saldías, Vivien Schmidt, Beth Simmons, and