1. Friends in the region: A comparative study on friendship building in regional integration
- Author:
- Andrea Oelsner and Antoine Vion
- Publication Date:
- 01-2011
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Politics
- Institution:
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Abstract:
- The role of international friendship in regional integration – be it as one of encouraging integration or as its by-product – tends to be overshadowed by (realist) assumptions of naked self-interest. This article aims to open up a space for friendship in the study of regional integration, by exploring the structuration of a series of speech acts and institutional facts that can be interpreted as signs of engagement in, and proofs of, friendship. In doing this, it puts forward a new analytical perspective and methodological framework. The case studies chosen to illustrate the analysis – the Franco–German and the Argentine–Brazilian dyads – reflect the historical meaning of the experience of moving away from enmity/antagonism towards building relationships based on mutual trust, which put these dyads at the centre of regional integration processes.
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and Argentina