Regionalism by Emulation: Considerations across Time and Space
Abstract
This chapter considers the question of institutional emulation among regional organizations alongside the wider question of how and why institutional ideas and practices develop. It does so by locating the European Union (EU) case alongside other cases of institutional gestation and development. The concern is to evaluate how important processes of emulation or institutional and normative diffusion (Jetschke and Murray, 2011, as opposed to other factors, are in the process of regionalism. It does this by examining regional cases comparatively over a long time scale and by considering levels of cross-fertilization and diffusion of ideas between different multilateral organizations, both regional and global. This comprehensive approach and long time scale is important because it demonstrates the multiple processes and influences on regionalism and its development over time.