Search Result

Srl

Item

ID: 080465

Historicity of the international region: revisiting the "Europe and the Rest" divide / Postel-Vinay, Karoline

Postel-Vinay, Karoline	Journal Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Publication

2007.

Summary/Abstract

Although most of the literature on international regionalism refers implicitly to a polity defined by the "idea of the region" it seldom looks at the genesis of this idea in the context of world politics. This article argues that looking at the historical formation of the regional idea is important not only to have a better understanding of international regionalism as such, but to address the issue of Europe's specificity within this trend. There has been an on-going debate about the heuristic status of the European Union (EU) within regional studies, underscoring a widening divide between a somewhat self-introspecting field of EU studies and an international regionalism studies one which provides little insight, other than tautological, on the European experience's singularity. The historical trajectory of the international regional idea shows a fundamental difference between Europe and the rest of world that could explain some otherwise unintelligible structural disparities between the EU and other regional groupings

Key Words

European Union ; International Regionalism

In Basket

Export

ID: 097922

Problem of comparison in comparative regionalism / Lombaerde, Philippe De; Soderbaum, Fredrik; Langenhove, Luk Van; Baert, Francis

Soderbaum, Fredrik	Journal Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Publication

2010.

Summary/Abstract

There is virtually no systematic debate on the fundamentals of comparative research in the study of international regionalism. The field of research is very fragmented and there is a lack of interaction between EU studies and regionalism in the rest of the world. There is also a lack of communication between scholars from various theoretical standpoints and research traditions. Related to these two divides is the tension between idiographic and nomothetic methodologies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the largely neglected debate on how to conduct and address three interrelated problems: a conceptual, a theoretical and a methodological one. Our claim is that the future of comparative regionalism should be one where old divides are bridged. This requires a combination of conceptual rigor, theoretical eclecticism, and sounder empirical research methods.

Key Words

Regionalism ; International Regionalism ; Eclecticism ; Comparative Regionalism ; EU Studies ; Lack of Communication

Links

'Full Text'

In Basket

Export