CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Mueller, Johannes |
|---|---|
| Title | Non-State Actors in Euro-Mediterranean Politics: Regional Convergence and Pro-Integration Advocacy |
| Summary | Since the 1990s, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental actors have attempted to create regional institutions at the level of the Euro-Mediterranean geographic space, which encompasses the EU, North Africa and West Asia. These regionalist endeavors have produced outcomes like the Union for the Mediterranean, but have also resulted in the emergence of a Euro-Mediterranean sphere of non-state organizations. Previous research on these types of organizations, particularly foreign policy research, has largely addressed them as tools of EU-driven regionalism. This leaves open the question of why and how non-state organizations position themselves towards the concept of a Euro-Mediterranean region, and to what extent they become political actors at the regional level. In reaction, the present study approaches the Euro-Med as a hybrid political region characterized by internal heterogeneity, institutional volatility, and political polycentricity. Based on neo-functionalist hypotheses and assisted by insight from New Regionalism approaches, it argues that Euro-Mediterranean regionalism allows non-state organizations like NGOs, business associations, or networks of local authorities to (re-)orient towards Euro-Mediterranean regional politics. Empirical research to support this point relies on two comprehensive surveys, of non-state organizations and of regional inter-state contexts, as well as on case studies sustained by document analysis, stakeholder interviews and event observation. Findings indicate how regionalism has unleashed a wide range of Euro-Mediterranean non-state dynamics, including by advocacy groups of a pro-integration character, and illustrate the possibility and fruitfulness of applying neo-functionalist integration theory to the non-state field of hybrid macro-regions. |
| Supervisor | Puetter, Uwe |
| Department | International Relations PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/muller_johannes.pdf |
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