Regional Governance, Gender and Transnationalism: A First Exploration

Abstract

Gender equality norms can be found throughout the world as a result of interweaving processes of norm production and norm diffusion. The literature on norm diffusion mainly focuses on the dynamics between the global level and the so-called ‘local’ level, which refers to everything below the global level, whereas no particular attention is paid to the patterns of interactions at the level of world regions1 or the relations between regional organizations, called interregionalism. (Inter)regional relations may enhance or hamper gender norm travelling between the different levels and merit attention for that reason. Differentiating between the global and the regional level allows, therefore, for further unpacking of the nature of norm diffusion dynamics. In this chapter, the specific characteristics of regional organizations and interregional relations as well as regional advocacy networks (RANs) are discussed. Furthermore, we argue for the relevance of the regional level for the study of gender equality norms. We situate ourselves in the debate concerning the EU as a ‘normative power’ before turning to the more general issue of how to understand the relations between regional organizations and how these relations might shape the diffusion of gender equality norms.