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What Is the EU?

Böröcz, József and Sarkar, Mahua (2005) What Is the EU? International Sociology, 20 (2). pp. 153-173. ISSN 0268-5809

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    Abstract

    This interpretive article relies on insights from three critical literatures – world-systems analysis, postcolonial studies and, to the extent of an extended simile, the economic sociology of flexible global production – to propose a geo- political understanding of what the European Union (EU) is. The authors begin by interrogating the tendency within much of the current research and commentary on the EU to treat it as a state of sorts. They then outline some mechanisms – pertaining to its internal and external linkage structures – that have enabled the EU to perform successfully in a geo- political context where most of the main actors are states. Finally, drawing on critical insights from the sociology of subcontracted production and distributed organization, the authors suggest ways in which the EU, in its current form, might be thought of beyond the constraints of the current theoretical language of statehood.

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    Item Type: Article
    Uncontrolled Keywords: world-systems analysis, postcolonial studies, flexible production, geopolitics, distributed organization, external linkages, European integration, statehood, coloniality, dependency, public authority
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Treaty reform > enlargement
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > political union & integration/European Political Union
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Depositing User: József Böröcz
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 21 Dec 2018 12:24
    Number of Pages: 21
    Page Range: pp. 153-173
    Last Modified: 21 Dec 2018 12:24
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/95140

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