Abstract
Facing internal and external crises, the European Union and the African Union have revitalized their interregional cooperation. This article theorizes interregional norm dynamics and explores how, in times of crises, gender equality norms are shaped in interregional relations between the African Union and the European Union. The question is all the more relevant because gender equality is shaped very differently in the European Union and the African Union policies. The African Union has adopted a rather holistic understanding of gender equality, while the European Union approach is constrained by a market-making logic. Also, since the 2008 economic crisis, gender equality policies within the European Union seem to stagnate while they seem to expand in the African Union. Our analysis of core texts shows that at interregional level attention to gender equality is fragmented. Even though in some respects the African Union gender equality norms are more encompassing, and gendered effects of crises in the European Union would merit renewed attention to gender equality, the European Union norms and interests dominate the agenda. Showing how power asymmetries between and disjointed logics of regional organizations impact interregional gender equality norms, the article contributes to the scarce literature on interregional norm dynamics.
Highlights
Facing internal and external crises, the European Union and the African Union have revitalized their interregional cooperation
Much attention has been devoted to definitional issues (Hänggi, 2006), but scholars will agree that African Union (AU)-European Union (EU) cooperation is an example of so-called ‘pure interregionalism’, understood as the politics and policymaking by ‘two clearly identifiable regional organizations within an institutional framework’ (Baert et al, 2014: 5)
To make sense of this finding, we have proposed a conceptualization of interregional norm dynamics as constrained by the logic which shapes theregional arenas, depending on the mission which drives the organization
Summary
Facing internal and external crises, the European Union and the African Union have revitalized their interregional cooperation. This article theorizes interregional norm dynamics and explores how, in times of crises, gender equality norms are shaped in interregional relations between the African Union and the European Union. Interregional policy documents pay fragmented attention to gender equality as standalone norm, but they lack a cross-cutting approach and only address the need for change in Africa. This is explained by the dominant role of the EU, which reduces African actors to norm-takers and objects of change, and the intergovernmental character of interregionalism which hampers access for non-state actors. Less EU-centred approaches from International Relations and International Political Economy (for an overview, see Ribeiro Hoffmann, 2016), which aim to explain stagnation or progress of interregional cooperation, are not helpful for understanding how norms are shaped as part of cooperation, either
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