The Politics of Identity and Regional Integration – Updating Global Perspectives

Regional integration (RI) is an essential part of the discourse on the global economy, viewed often as a “stumbling block” or “building block.” However, little research exists that connects RI in the context of a politics of identity (PoI), which can be used to describe the evolving tensions between national sentiment and regional economic cooperation. This paper performs a Web of Science and Google Scholar review of 136 articles to determine how RI is discussed in the context of PoI. Our review demonstrated that the conceptual frameworks normally used to think about PoI are underexpressed in the context of RI. We discuss why this is the case and identify themes to illustrate the connection. We then suggest conceptual frameworks to enhance the discussion of PoI as it relates to RI, particularly as it relates to the teaching of RI across learning groups.