Regionalism in the European Union: Key concepts and project overview

Abstract:

One of the apparent contradictions of the twenty-first century is that, in a world of globalisation and interdependence, there is an increase in the number of constitutional regions and stateless nations aggressively seeking autonomy and influence. Despite powerful arguments that inherent in globalisation is a process of deterritorialisation, the politics of place enjoys a reinvigorated salience. Uncertainty generated by the countervailing forces of integration and disintegration prompts contentious questions about shared sovereignty, viability of small entities, possibilities for transborder co-operation, competing loyalties, and democratisation via devolution. Perhaps nowhere are the dilemmas associated with these questions better illustrated than in the European Union. This issue of the Journal of European Integration introduces a collaborative research project that addresses the reciprocal relationship between regionalism and European unification. In this introductory essay, the project's core concerns are briefly outlined. Summaries are provided of how these concerns are empirically applied in the studies of seven scholars whose work is presented in this volume.