Narrative-Based Production of State Spaces for International Region Building: Europeanization and the Mediterranean

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.2006.00484.x Byline: Alun Jones (*) Keywords: Europeanization; geopolitical narrative; Mediterranean; state spaces Abstract: Europeanization, defined as a multidirectional process that entails changes in the rationales and structures of state action, involves the diffusion of distinctive forms of political organization and governance and the promotion of 'European' solutions outside of European Union territory. I examine Europeanization in the context of international region building in the Mediterranean and demonstrate how geopolitical narratives for Europeanization are constructed by state and European political actors. These narratives serve as an instruction for the sociopolitical mobilization of states in their search for new economic and geopolitical advantages. Through a rigorous empirical analysis, I seek to meld narrative-based political geographies and state space regulation and show how international region building is a messy, problematic, and highly contested activity for parceling, regulating, and representing geopolitical space. Author Affiliation: (*)Department of Geography, University of Leicester Article History: Initial submission, April 2005; revised submission, September 2005; final acceptance, September 2005 Article note: Correspondence: Department of Geography, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom, e-mail: arj11@le.ac.uk.