A 'Macro-regional' Europe in the Making


Book Description

Macro-regional strategies seek to improve the interplay of the EU with existing regimes and institutions, and foster coherence of transnational policies. Drawing on macro-regional governance and Europeanization, this edited volume provides an overview of processes of macro-regionalization in Europe displaying evidence of their significant impact.




Sub-regionalisms in the European Union: Bridge-builders or spoilers?


Book Description

In today's interconnected, differentiated and polarized European Union, sub-regional groupings between the national and EU level are a highly relevant empirical phenomenon. Despite their importance, the interactions between sub-regionalisms and EU actors and processes remain under-researched. This book fills this large research gap by applying a systematic comparative approach. Taking into account a huge corpus of empirical data gained through expert interviews and document analysis, this study provides the conceptual and empirical groundwork necessary to better understand EU sub-regionalism. For the timeframe between 2009 and 2018, it analyses the scope of sub-regional cooperation in the Baltic, Benelux and Visegrád groupings. Moreover, it compares their respective institutional design, political identity, foreign policy as well as their external recognition by EU actors. A special focus lies on their role in six EU policy cases, including EU budget negotiations, TTIP, the drafting process of the EU Global Strategy, refugee relocation quotas, the revision of the posted workers directive and defence cooperation through PESCO. In its conclusion, this book identifies two sub-regional archetypes: functional hubs and political tools. While differing in many regards, the shared assessment finds that the overall bridge-building efforts of the Baltic, Benelux and Visegrád sub-regionalisms exceed their spoiling potential.




A 'Macro-regional' Europe in the Making


Book Description

Macro-regional strategies seek to improve the interplay of the EU with existing regimes and institutions, and foster coherence of transnational policies. Drawing on macro-regional governance and Europeanization, this edited volume provides an overview of processes of macro-regionalization in Europe displaying evidence of their significant impact.




International Handbook on the Economics of Integration


Book Description

'International Handbook on the Economics of Integration edited by Miroslav Jovanovi? provides timely and rich academic contributions to considerations of the widest array of integration-related issues. European integration has been providing an inspiration to a number of academics and researchers. the Handbook is a recognition of the dynamic and strong solidarity of European integration. At the same time, the European Union often provided an example for integration schemes throughout the world which spread enormously since the mid-1990s. Leading experts from all continents contributed to this Handbook which will be a valuable input into academic and policy-making discussions and actions.' - José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission







Initiatives of Regional Integration in Asia in Comparative Perspective


Book Description

This volume offers to compare and explain variances of regionalism in Asia by disclosing the distinctive features of regional arrangements and how they evolved during the 1990s and 2000s against the background of a changing global environment. Moreover, it takes up a genuinely ‘inter-Asian’ perspective. By analysing and comparing diverse manifestations of regional integration agreements across Asia and its different sub-regions, it sets out to track their common characteristics and sub-regional facets with respect to their establishment, design and consequences. In addition, political processes accompanying their negotiation and implementation are scrutinized. The analysis encompasses nine case studies written by renowned scholars who together as a group combine an extraordinary mixture of different disciplinary backgrounds as well as expertise on shapes and processes of regional integration in different parts of Asia. The case studies seize on some of the most important features and controversial issues characterizing the second regionalism. Such are the emergence and impact of overlapping FTAs, regional financial and sub-regional economic integration and cooperation, power and the politics of regional integration as well as the nexus between conflict resolution, state failure and regional integration.




The Road to the European Union


Book Description

This book is a timely and solid portrait of modern China from the First Opium War to the Xi Jinping era. Unlike the handful of existing textbooks that only provide narratives, this textbook fashions a new and practical way to study modern China. Written exclusively for university students, A-level or high school teachers and students, it uses primary sources to tell the story of China and introduces them to existing scholarship and academic debate so they can conduct independent research for their essays and dissertations. This book will be required reading for students who embark on the study of Chinese history, politics, economics, diaspora, sociology, literature, cultural, urban and women's studies. It would be essential reading to journalists, NGO workers, diplomats, government officials, businessmen and travellers.







The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism


Book Description

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism - the first of its kind - offers a systematic and wide-ranging survey of the scholarship on regionalism, regionalization, and regional governance. Unpacking the major debates, leading authors of the field synthesize the state of the art, provide a guide to the comparative study of regionalism, and identify future avenues of research. Twenty-seven chapters review the theoretical and empirical scholarship with regard to the emergence of regionalism, the institutional design of regional organizations and issue-specific governance, as well as the effects of regionalism and its relationship with processes of regionalization. The authors explore theories of cooperation, integration, and diffusion explaining the rise and the different forms of regionalism. The handbook also discusses the state of the art on the world regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Eurasia, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Various chapters survey the literature on regional governance in major issue areas such as security and peace, trade and finance, environment, migration, social and gender policies, as well as democracy and human rights. Finally, the handbook engages in cross-regional comparisons with regard to institutional design, dispute settlement, identities and communities, legitimacy and democracy, as well as inter- and transregionalism.




100 Years of World Wars and Post-War Regional Collaboration


Book Description

This book is about the 100 years of World Wars and Regional Collaboration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, investigating and considering how to foster Good Governance and New World Order. The world is currently at the historical turning point. The twentieth century witnessed two World Wars (WWI and WWII), followed by the Cold War that dominated geopolitics. Amidst the post-war devastation, the European Community, soon succeeded by the European Union, came into being. Peaceful governance was nurtured by building economic collaboration and institutions and by establishing liberalism, democracy and the rule of law. In Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also pursued regional governance after WWII, but in East Asia, the American Divide and Rule policy is continuing until now by the influence of China, North Korea and Russia. In the contemporary world in the twenty-first century, a new nationalism, Populism and Authoritarianism are spreading. At the same time, a wave of rapid economic growth is occurring in developing countries, especially in China and India. Destabilization is spreading in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia concurrently with the search for “Democratization”. Through the two World Wars and the Cold War which originated in 100 years of the twentieth century, what types of regional institutions and governance have been developed to avoid endless wars and conflicts? In this book, it is examined, what kind of order is necessary to stabilize the regions from conflicts and wars in both Europe and Asia. The themes of the Tokyo Conferences and the Kyoto Conference by SCJ (Science Council of Japan) in December 2020, were investigated and clarified, how the countries that were caught up in global wars have considered regional coexistence in each period, and how to establish peace, stability, and prosperity by means of new institutionalizations, norms and the rule of law. The aim of the authors is to examine and discuss How to create New World Order, Regional Collaborations and Good Governance in the historical power transition period. This book can inspire many scholars and young researchers to join in discussing how to create New World Order in the twenty-first century, from the midst of the unstable situations of the global geopolitics.