Much has been said about the driving forces of region-building processes, or regionalization, worldwide. Most of the available theoretical models focus on internal (that is, region-specific) factors; others explain the regionalization processes as reactions to globalization. However, there have been few systematic and comparative studies of how regions can contribute to the building of other regions — and, more concretely, how the European Union (EU) has served to “push” for regionalization worldwide.

The EU and World Regionalism: The Makability of Regions in the 21st Century, edited by Philippe De Lombaerde (UNU-CRIS) and Michael Schultz (University of Gothenburg), investigates the impact that the EU has on regionalization elsewhere through its inter-regional relations. It further investigates whether the EU contributes directly, as well as indirectly, to increased regional integration in different parts of the world.

The book was published as part of Ashgate’s “The International Political Economy of New Regionalisms Series”.