Rethinking EU Studies: The Contribution of Comparative Regionalism

This article introduces the special issue on the contribution of comparative regionalism/regional integration studies to the rethinking of EU studies. It sets out what we consider to be a danger for EU studies, namely its tendency towards introversion, and argue for a sustained engagement with the studies of other global regions as a means to avoid this. We draw on political science and psychology to set out a suitable framework for comparing global regions such as the EU, and show how the various contributions to the special issue demonstrate the utility for EU studies scholars of a more sustained, and more routinised, engagement with the work on ‘new regionalism’.