1st Edition

Cooperation or Conflict? Problematizing Organizational Overlap in Europe

By Carmen Gebhard, David J. Galbreath Copyright 2011

    Following the end of the Second World War, the creation of regional organizations in Europe provided niche functions to help ensure regional stability through security and transition. Yet, as the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union dissolved, each of these organizations evolved to have a post-Cold War role in the region. Since then, the level of convergence of norms, interests and objectives between these main regional organizations has increased considerably. Is there a common agenda in Europe? Does Europe still need so many organizational elements to tackle the major challenges? This book examines the way the EU, NATO, OSCE, and Council of Europe relate to and interact with each other, identifying the areas of positive convergence and divergence as well as areas of negative cooperation and conflict. By tracing the institutional development and regional integration in Europe, the book questions to what degree do European organizations maintain separate identities and most importantly do these organizations still offer a unique and useful service to regional stability. In developing this argument, policy areas analysed include: "

    Introduction, David J. Galbreath and Carmen Gebhard; The EU and the Council of Europe: difference, duplication or delegation?, Martyn Bond; Governance between international institutions: analysing interaction modes between the EU, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, Malte Brosig; Cooperation and conflict in the promotion and protection of democracy by European regional organizations, Richard Burchill; Managing ethnopolitics from above: inter-organizational cooperation and European integration, David J. Galbreath; The EU-NATO conundrum in context: Bringing the state back in, Luis Simon; 'No exit'? International organizations, human rights and the politics of withdrawal in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Joanne McEvoy; African solutions to European problems? Conditioning cooperation among international organizations on peace operations in Europe and Africa, Heidi Hardt; Conclusions, David J. Galbreath and Carmen Gebhard; Index

    Biography

    David J. Galbreath, University of Bath, UK and Carmen Gebhard, National Defense University, Budapest, Hungary

    'This collection of essays reflects on an important topic: the complex dynamics of interaction among international organisations committed to promoting security, democracy and human rights in Europe.' Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham, UK