Beyond Pure Interregionalism: EU–LAC Issue-Specific Cooperation and the Reconfiguration of Regionalism

This paper investigates how the European Union’s (EU) issue-specific functional cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) influences regionalism in the region. While EU–LAC relations have traditionally been researched through formal organizations interregional relations (e.g. EU–CELAC or EU–Mercosur), the EU has increasingly relied on horizontal, issue-based cooperation in transboundary policy areas such as cybersecurity, climate governance or the fight against organised crime. Driven by initiatives such as the EU’s Global Gateway, these cooperation projects bring together clusters of LAC actors without operating through a single, formal regional organisation; yet include multilateral governance arrangements, regular meetings, and joint activities among participating states. This raises an underexplored question on how this type of EU–LAC functional cooperation mechanisms can contribute to, or inhibit, regionalism in LAC. We argue that this type of interregionalism can generate, reinforce, or reconfigure regionalism by creating specialised networks, shared practices, and policy norms among LAC actors. By drawing on scholarship on EU diffusion, we examine how EU-funded cooperation shapes institutions and policy practices beyond Europe, while avoiding assumptions of linear or normative EU influence. Additionally, We build on literature on the mutually constitutive relationship between regionalism and interregionalism by showing how cooperation between regions may indirectly produce regional dynamics within partner regions. Empirically, the paper employs process tracing in selected cases of EU-funded cooperation, including ALICE, the EU–LAC Cyber Competence Centre, EL PAcCTO, and COPOLAD III. It traces causal mechanisms such as network creation, socialisation and standard-setting, and the institutionalisation of cooperation. Data are drawn from document analysis and semi-structured interviews, with systematic coding and triangulation used to enhance reliability. Finally, we aim to contribute to alternative explanations and to reflect critically on EU-centric bias by foregrounding power asymmetries and the agency of LAC actors, distinguishing EU-driven diffusion from local adaptation, appropriation, or resistance.