The EU as a Global Player

The Politics of Interregionalism

Edited by FREDRIK SODERBAUM, Luk Van Langenhove

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About the Book

A new look at the European Union's role as a global actor, with special focus on the theme of interregionalism in its relations with key regions around the world: Africa, Asia, South America, North America and Central-Eastern Europe.

This new collection clearly shows how, since the end of the Cold War, the European Union has gradually expanded its external relations and foreign policies and become a global actor in world politics. During the last decade interregionalism has become a key component of the EU’s external relations and foreign policies. In fact, the EU has quickly become the hub of a large number of interregional arrangements with a number of regions around the world. Promoting regional and interregional relations not only justifies and enhances the EU’s own existence and efficiency as a global ‘player’, the strategy also promotes the legitimacy and status of other regions, giving rise to a deepening of cross-cutting interregional relations in trade and economic relations, political dialogue, development cooperation, cultural relations and security cooperation.

This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Journal of European Integration.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: The EU as a Global Actor and the Role of Interregionalism 2. A Triumph of Realism over Idealism? Cooperation Between the European Union and Africa 3. The European dialogue with the MERCOSUR: a relationship based on strategic and neo-liberal principles 4. New Interregionalism?: The EU and East Asia 5. The Limits of Interregionalism: The EU and North America 6. The EU and Central and Eastern Europe: The Absence of Interregionalism 8. EU as a Global Actor and the Dynamics of Interregionalism: a Comparative Analysis