The Unintended Consequences of Interregionalism: Effects on Regional Actors, Societies and Structures(Globalisation, Europe, and Multilateralism)

This edited book brings a new analytical angle to the study of comparative regionalism by focussing on the unintended consequences of interregional relations. The book satisfies the need to go beyond the consideration of the success or failure of international policies. It sheds light on complex interactions involving multiple actors, individual and institutional, driven by various representations, interests and strategies, and which often result in unintended consequences that powerfully affect the socio-political context in which they unfold. By providing a new conceptual framework to understand how interregionalism brings about social change, the book examines the effects on the individual and institutional actors of interregional relations, and the effects on the social structures that constitute interregionalism. It also examines interregionalism’s transformational character for structures of regional and international governance, as well as societies. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students in the fields of comparative regionalism, interregionalism, EU studies, international and regional organisations, global governance and more broadly to international relations, international politics and (comparative) area studies.

Table of Contents:
1. The unintended consequences of interregionalism: New concepts for understanding the entanglements of regionalisms Part 1: Unintended Effects on the Actors of Interregionalism 2. Overlapping regionalism and the unintended consequences of democracy clauses in the Americas 3. The unintended consequences of interregionalism on actorness of the European Union: The case of EU-ASEAN cooperation in disaster management 4. The EU-CELAC Cooperation Programme on Drugs Policies and the unintended consequences of interregional interactions Part 2: Unintended Effects on the Interregional Structure 5. The ASEAN Way versus EU maritime multilateralism: The unintended consequences of EU-ASEAN maritime security cooperation 6. Between bilateralism and interregionalism: EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership and the unintended consequences for EU-MERCOSUR relations 7. The unintended consequences of regional security cooperation in West Africa-EU relations beyond the African Peace and Security Architecture Part 3: Unintended Effects in Terms of Broader Social Change 8. The Sahel as an unintended region: Competing regionalisms and insecurity dynamics 9. Agential constructivism, shadow regionalisms and interregional dynamics in the Horn of Africa 10. When external drivers of regional integration turn into actors of regional disintegration: Regionalism and interregionalism in the South Caucasus 11. The unintended consequences of neighbourhood policies by the European Union and Russia: Region-building in Moldova in an interregional context

About the Author :
Elisa Lopez-Lucia is an assistant professor at the Research and Studies in International Politics (REPI) centre of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. Frank Mattheis is a researcher at the Institute for European Studies of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium.

Review :
"This brilliant book moves the study of interregionalism and regionalism into unchartered terrains. By escaping EU-centrism and combining theoretical diligence and contextual sensitivity, it provides an outstanding example of what research in this field should look like." Fredrik Söderbaum, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. "Meticulously written and perfectly timed, this book offers an incisive view of the unintended consequences of interregionalism. A must-read for those seeking to decentre EU studies or striving to understand the unintended aspects in EU external policies and international relations more broadly." Olga Burlyuk, Ghent University, Belgium.