Introduction: Regionalism under stress

Regionalism is under stress in Europe and Latin America. The European Union, while still coping with the Eurozone crisis, has been facing additional challenges, such as conflicts in its neighborhood, the massive influx of refugees, an increasing frequency of terrorist attacks, the electoral success of Eurosceptic parties, and the Brexit referendum. In Latin America, regional cooperation stagnates due to economic problems in major countries, a lack of regional leadership, and ideological conflicts which led to a standoff in important regional organizations. Our project studied current challenges and constraints facing regionalism in different parts of the world. In particular, it investigated stress factors and their interaction with characteristics of the region. This introduction defines central concepts, situates the book in the burgeoning field of research on comparative regionalism, presents the analytical framework, and offers an overview of the individual contributions