The EU as a Global Player: The Politics of Interregionalism

Since the end of the Cold War the European Union has gradually expended 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 'actor', the strategy also promote 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 collection analyses the EU's role in the world and as a global actor, with a particular focus on the origins, causes and strength (or absence) of interregionalism in the EU's external relations andforeign policies towards some of the most important regions around the world : Africa, Asia, South America, North America and Central-Eastern Europe. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.