Differentiated Disintegration in the Economic Community of West African States, the Eurasian Economic Community and the European Union: A Comparative Regionalism Approach

Stefan Gänzle*, Jens Uwe Wunderlich, Tobias C. Hofelich

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union has sparked interest in voluntary withdrawals from regional organisations (RO). While Brexit is a well-researched subject, other exits from ROs around the globe have been somewhat neglected. We still know relatively little about states’ motivations to leave and how such exits play out in the short and long run. This article addresses both gaps. First, it conceptualises withdrawals from ROs as differentiated disintegration to better grasp the pre- and post-exit dynamics. Second, it puts forth three factor groups explaining states’ reasoning composed of (i) geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions, (ii) intra-regional tensions and (iii) domestic factors. Third, it applies this framework to Uzbekistan’s exit from the EurAsEC, Mauritania’s departure from ECOWAS and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Despite great differences in the regional setup and level of institutionalisation, we find that strong parallels can be drawn between all three cases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)881-901
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of European Integration
Volume46
Issue number6
Early online date8 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 May 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Keywords

  • Africa
  • Central Asia
  • Europe
  • comparative regionalism
  • differentiation
  • flexible cooperation
  • regional organisations

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