Regional Integration and Social Cohesion

«Regional Integration and Social Cohesion» (RISC) is an interdisciplinary and multilingual (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese) series that examines the human and environmental impacts of regional integration, defined legally/politically (supranationalism), economically (globalization), socially (identity), and geographically (borders). The series aims to link global analysis of issues associated with social cohesion, such as market shifts, immigration, environmental risk and the deterioration of natural resources, human rights, violence and security, etc., with national and subnational studies that focus on political decision-making, the non-governmental sector and social participation in public debates, economic transformations, social marginalization, identity, etc. Thus, the series aims to combine the international, national and subnational arenas of politics in thematically-oriented research. While proposed case studies are welcome, the works presented in this series from all social science disciplines, are predominantly based on the comparative method. Studies that compare across geographic regions, defined continentally, are of particular interest.

In addition to the scientific focus described above, this series aims to connect theoretical analysis of questions related to social cohesion with policy-based research. In doing so, it examines the role of political actors at different levels of regional integration processes and it studies citizen responses to changing opportunity structures in the economic, social and political spheres. Thus, the series attempts to shed light on contemporary shifts in the uses and types of power in policy-making processes. The issue of changes in how policies are being made is linked to: «who affects policy-making?» and «what impact do policies have in social and economic arenas?»