Debates about the internationalization of the social sciences have focused on globalization. This article, however, analyses the field of European social science as a case of transnational regionalization. The growth of European funding provoked increasing collaboration across national borders. In these emerging transnational regional structures, three patterns stand out. The first concerns the predominant position of the larger countries, in particular, Great Britain. The second concerns variation across disciplines: certain social sciences display a much higher level of international orientation than others. A third pattern concerns the significance of European collaboration in a more global context. European collaboration has increased, but its broader significance seems paradoxical: while European journals and associations have a rather peripheral position as compared to those based in the US, European social scientists are more cited than their U.S. American brethren.
European social science; Transnational regionalism; U.S. hegemony
