At a moment when multilateralism is contested and regional organizations are increasingly asked to deliver security, prosperity, and voice, the question of whether citizens actually support them has never been more pressing. Regional integration is a global phenomenon, yet how citizens relate to regional organizations remains understudied.
This panel places public attitudes toward regional integration in comparative perspective, examining the EU alongside Mercosur, the African Union, ASEAN, and other regional projects. We invite papers on cross-regional differences in awareness, trust, and support for regional organizations; the existence and content of regional identities (South American, Pan-African, Southeast Asian); the drivers of support for integration in the Global South, from economic expectations to post-colonial solidarity; and the methodological challenges of measuring integration attitudes across diverse contexts. Survey-based, experimental, qualitative contributions, and papers comparing two or more regions are especially encouraged.
