Interregionalism as a foreign policy tool: New concepts and trends

Interregionalism as a foreign policy tool: New concepts and trends

Interregional agreements routinely proclaim large political goals and are garnished with ambitious rhetoric. Accordingly, most interregional summits end up with a presidential communiqué that highlight geopolitical issues and envisage the establishment of a strategic alliance. However, these statements rarely reflect or produce concrete results. We aim to go beyond the existing typologies of interregional relations and produce a more accurate description of how interregional relations actually work. Furthermore, we intend to compare domestic and systemic factors in order to explain the gap between rhetoric and ccomplishment.
The most innovative and original features of this project concern:

  • The theoretical refinement of definitions and typologies of interregionalism;
  • The analysis of reality on the ground and diplomatic practice of existing interregional processes;
  • The construction of a solid bridge between theory and actual practice of interregionalism;
  • An original analysis of the most visible feature of interregionalism: top political summits.

The added value of this collaboration lies first of all in the complementarities between the two principal investigators, but also in the training opportunity for two junior researchers.

Interregionalism is now a topical subject in international relations, both at the academic and practitioner level. It is characterized by an increasing number of summits between national and regional leaders.
Only in the last few years, heads of state and/or government, diplomatic corps, and business and civil society representatives from the four shores of the Atlantic have engaged in a multitude of events, including - among the most significant - two Summits of the Americas (2012 and 2015), a South American-Arab Countries Summit (2012), two EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit (2013 and 2015), an Africa-South America Summit (2013), an Africa-EU Summit (2014), an Arab-US Policymakers Conference (2014), and a US-Africa Leaders Summit (2014).

Is interregionalism a step towards global governance, a foreign policy tool or just a superfluous outgrowth of regional integration? Some authors deem the phenomenon as unavoidable and even irreversible, as regional integration itself, while others remain more skeptical. Few go beyond mostly descriptive or normative accounts. This project aims at taking critical stock of the debate and pushing it further, not just by refining existent typologies but especially through the analysis and dissection of realexisting interregional processes and their most visible feature: top executive summitry.

 

Estatuto: 
Proponent entity
Financed: 
Yes
Entidades: 
Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas (CRUP)

Interregional agreements routinely proclaim large political goals and are garnished with ambitious rhetoric. Accordingly, most interregional summits end up with a presidential communiqué that highlight geopolitical issues and envisage the establishment of a strategic alliance. However, these statements rarely reflect or produce concrete results. We aim to go beyond the existing typologies of interregional relations and produce a more accurate description of how interregional relations actually work. Furthermore, we intend to compare domestic and systemic factors in order to explain the gap between rhetoric and ccomplishment.
The most innovative and original features of this project concern:

  • The theoretical refinement of definitions and typologies of interregionalism;
  • The analysis of reality on the ground and diplomatic practice of existing interregional processes;
  • The construction of a solid bridge between theory and actual practice of interregionalism;
  • An original analysis of the most visible feature of interregionalism: top political summits.

The added value of this collaboration lies first of all in the complementarities between the two principal investigators, but also in the training opportunity for two junior researchers.

Interregionalism is now a topical subject in international relations, both at the academic and practitioner level. It is characterized by an increasing number of summits between national and regional leaders.
Only in the last few years, heads of state and/or government, diplomatic corps, and business and civil society representatives from the four shores of the Atlantic have engaged in a multitude of events, including - among the most significant - two Summits of the Americas (2012 and 2015), a South American-Arab Countries Summit (2012), two EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit (2013 and 2015), an Africa-South America Summit (2013), an Africa-EU Summit (2014), an Arab-US Policymakers Conference (2014), and a US-Africa Leaders Summit (2014).

Is interregionalism a step towards global governance, a foreign policy tool or just a superfluous outgrowth of regional integration? Some authors deem the phenomenon as unavoidable and even irreversible, as regional integration itself, while others remain more skeptical. Few go beyond mostly descriptive or normative accounts. This project aims at taking critical stock of the debate and pushing it further, not just by refining existent typologies but especially through the analysis and dissection of realexisting interregional processes and their most visible feature: top executive summitry.

 

Objectivos: 
Interregional agreements routinely proclaim large political goals and are garnished with ambitious rhetoric. Accordingly, most interregional summits end up with a presidential communiqué that highlight geopolitical issues and envisage the establishment of a strategic alliance. However, these statements rarely reflect or produce concrete results. We aim to go beyond the existing typologies of interregional relations and produce a more accurate description of how interregional relations actually work. Furthermore, we intend to compare domestic and systemic factors in order to explain the gap between rhetoric and accomplishment.<br />The most innovative and original features of this project concern:<br />• The theoretical refinement of definitions and typologies of interregionalism;<br />• The analysis of reality on the ground and diplomatic practice of existing interregional processes;<br />• The construction of a solid bridge between theory and actual practice of interregionalism;<br />• An original analysis of the most visible feature of interregionalism: top political summits.<br />The added value of this collaboration lies first of all in the complementarities between the two principal investigators, but also in the training opportunity for two junior researchers.
Parceria: 
Unintegrated
Felipe Albuquerque
Nelia Miguel Müller
Coordenador Geral 
Gian Luca Gardini
Coordenador ICS 
Referência externa 
PROJ4/2017
Start Date: 
01/02/2017
End Date: 
31/12/2018
Duração: 
23 meses
Closed