Abstract
In this introductory chapter, the field of interregionalism studies is introduced and the relation to the Atlantic region is presented. The study of interregionalism faces various challenges: firstly, interregionalism research is (still) Eurocentric; secondly, the agency of the various actors involved is often overlooked; thirdly, there is a need for more comparison between regions; and fourthly, the connection between regionalism and interregionalism is poorly understood. We propose to address these shortcomings by recalibrating the theoretical lens in order to analyse the diversity of contemporary interregionalism. The chapter thus discusses established categories of analysis as well as the post-revisionist approach to interregionalism, and outlines the contribution to the endeavour of balancing the case of the EU in the study of regionalism and interregionalism. Furthermore, we provide an overview of the context in which interregional relations across the Atlantic takes place and contextualise the most relevant regional-building processes in all Atlantic regions. The chapter ends by explaining the structure of the volume and by presenting the individual conceptual and empirical contributions of the book,, which provide state of the art and innovative analysis of interregionalism.
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Litsegård, A., Mattheis, F. (2018). The Atlantic Space – A Region in the Making. In: Mattheis, F., Litsegård, A. (eds) Interregionalism across the Atlantic Space. United Nations University Series on Regionalism, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62908-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62908-7_1
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