Chapter 4: Classifications of Regional Organizations

Introduction

Regional organizations have started to have a considerable impact on global politics since the end of the Second World War. Regional governance structures have shown the capacity of affecting not only regional systems, but also the international system. Regions and regional governance structures have emerged as new actors in international politics especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There can be different types of relations among regional organizations. Some of them cooperate with each other, some of them are complementary. But some of them compete with each other.

Different Categorizations of Regional Organizations

There are two waves of regionalism in the modern times. The radical changes in the global system led to an attempt by the nation states to create new organizations. The first wave of regionalism started after the end of the Second World War. The second wave of regionalism started after the end of the Cold War. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the spread of the liberal ideology resulted in the emergence of a new world order (or disorder). There are different types of categorizations of regional organizations. First of all, they can be classified according to their aims. Why were they established? What were the aims of founders? Which functions do they try to fulfill? What does the founding charter/agreement state about the fundamental objectives of the organization? The other type of regional organization is economic organizations. They are established by the nation states with the aim of cooperation in economic issues. There can be different stakes at hand. On the one hand, globalization can be an important driver for regional economic organizations. Security organizations aim to protect member states from common risks and threats. Risks and threats can stem from inside or outside the region. Old Regionalism: A type of regionalism in which states play the most important role. According to this approach, regions are considered to be fixed structures. New Regionalism: According to this approach, multiple actors, like states, business communities and NGO’s play the fundamental role in the establishment of regions. Regions are considered as not fixed, but constructed entities. In the closed regionalism, regional organizations try to protect themselves from the competition stemming from outside. However, in the open regionalism, organizations are open to global competition. Regional Identity: If there are common values, norms and beliefs in a region linking people together, then we can consider the existence of regional identity. Constructivists argue that regions do not emerge themselves but they are constructed. The existence or perceptions of threats can be an important factor for regional organizations. If there is an actor within or outside the region, that threatens or is perceived to threaten regional states, it might be an important reason bringing states together under the umbrella of a regional organization. The perceived socialist threat became the major factor for the formation of NATO. The perceived German threat was important for the formation of both NATO and the EU because it was believed that German nationalism could only be weakened by engaging with Germany. In addition, the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war between 19891988 became the major reasons for the initiation of the Gulf Cooperation Council since the Gulf countries were alarmed by these events

Reasons for Cooperation and Integration

Some regional organizations are established with limited aims by the founding actors. There can be different objectives of the founders. Ernst Haas defines integration as follows:

• “the process whereby political actors in several distinct national settings are persuaded
• To shift their loyalties, expectations and political activities toward a new and larger
• centre, whose institutions possess or demand jurisdiction over the pre-existing national
• states.” (Haas, “International Integration”, 1963, p. 7)

Regional organizations can be classified into two groups according to their organizational structures. Some of them just focus on cooperation in certain issue areas, however, the second group of them integrate their policies by moving beyond the Westphalian understanding of sovereignty. In the case of pooling, member states decide by qualified majority voting. In the case of delegation, the decision making authority is transferred to regional organization. Authoritarian states do not want to take part in the regional integration efforts, because they do not want to share their sovereignty. Common ideological approaches can be an important factor helping regional states come together around a regional institution. Individual level of analysis focuses on analysing the values, norms, beliefs and mind-set of decision makers. According to Ernst Haas, one of the greatest founders of the neofunctionalist theory of European integration, democracy is one of the key words to be able to explain the differenation in the spectrum of cooperation versus integration. There must be a pluralist social structure for integration to emerge and to flourish. Pluralism allows internal actors to have influence over the decisions of the government. Hence, it allows the sharing of power in the internal context as well.

Explaining Integration: Theoretical Approaches

According to the functional theory, the functional needs of individuals and states would lead to the establishment of international institutions. Spill over Spread of the area of cooperation or integration from one field to another. It is argued by functionalists and neofunctionalist that the direction of spill over is from technical fields to political issues. Similarly, after the increase of navigation, the Commission for Navigation on the Rhine River was established. International Labour Organization was established in order to coordinate the relationship between workers and businesspeople. Neofunctionalist, like functionalists, also focus on spillover of cooperation or integration from non-political issues to political issues, but as different from the functional approach, they argue that the spillover from technical to political issues does not have to be an automatic process. Liberal intergovernmentalism argues that states’ decision to work together is based on three stages. Constructivists argue that international organizations are important actors in the global system. They believe that international organizations can affect policies of nation states as well as functioning of the international system. Liberal intergovernmentalism argues that states should be considered as the main actors in global and regional politics. Through their negotiations, institutions can be established. States try to maximize their interests by establishing regional organizations. Liberal intergovernmentalism argues that states’ decision to work together is based on three stages. First of all, states need to decide about their national interests. After that, they should enter into bargaining with other actors in order to decide about the framework of agreement to be signed. At the third stage, international organization would be established in order to be able to realize their objectives. However, “member states are ‘masters of the treaty’ and continue to enjoy pre-eminent decisionmaking power and political legitimacy.” (Moravcsik and Schimmelfenning, “Liberal Intergovernmentalism”, 2009, p. 68) Liberal intergovernmentalism believes in the possibility of supranationalism. It argues that states might prefer to delegate part of their authority to international organizations. On the other hand, as a middle way theory between positivist and post-positivist approaches, constructivism benefits from the epistemology of positivism and ontology of post-positivism. In addition, according to constructivism, not only material factors, but also ideational factors are important in international politics. Constructivists do not deny the importance of material power, like military and economic power, but they also emphasize the importance of norms, rules, principles and values. Constructivism argues that international organizations are important global actors like states, business communities, and NGO’s. Based on their belief systems, values and norms, states would establish international institutions. If they have appropriate identities, states can cooperate or even integrate with each other through regional/international organizations. European Union, The Council of Europe, Mercosur, ASEAN are examples of how states can cooperate effectively through organizations.

Diffusion, Learning and Democracy Promotion

Diffusion: Affect of an organization on institutional structure or decision making mechanism of another organization. Regional organizations can be inspired from each other. They can benefit from the working structure, organs and experiences of other organizations. Some regional organizations can be perceived as rivals by some states because of economic, political or security reasons, and this might push them to establish new institutions together with their allies. A good example could be the foundation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) by the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan in 2014 when the crisis in Ukraine was still going on. From the perspective of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, EEU was perceived as an alternative to the EU. When you look at the official website of the EEU, its terminology is very much similar to the EU like “regional economic integration”, “free movement of goods, services, capital and labor”, “coordinated, harmonized and single policy in the sectors”. (http://www.eaeunion.org/?lang=en#aboutinfo) EEU is just one example how the model of one organization can affect other organizations.

Democracy Promotion

Democracy promotion means how an actor encourages other actors to implement democratic norms and policies. There are four different ways of affecting democratization. First way is the use of coercion. According to coercion, the external actor gets the political institutions of a state under its own control. The second way of democracy promotion is contagion, according to which a democratic country/actor can have a positive impact on another actor. It can be perceived as an attractive model. The Zeitgeist (time spirit) can encourage the democratization process as it was seen in the democratization waves of the postSecond World War era and post-Cold War period. Third way is convergence. In this method, the actor in question would like to adapt the democratic values. There can be two basic reasons why a state would like to democratize. Fourth method is conditionality according to which states would get some rewards in return for their implementation of democratic principles. Conditionality: The requirement to fulfil certain conditions in order to get a benefit, reward or be entitled with membership. Although the European integration process is based on the democratic principles from the beginning, it was only after the end of the Cold War that the EU used democracy promotion as a foreign policy tool in its attempt to democratize its neighbourhood. The Union included the elements of promoting the state of democracy in the neighbouring areas through Poland and Hungary Aid for the Reconstructing of Economy (PHARE) Program and Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) Program. The emphasis of democracy in EU’s foreign policy is also evident in its ties with the African countries. In the Fourth Lome Convention in 1989, the EU emphasized the importance of democracy, human rights and rule of law in its relations with the African countries. The Treaty of Maastricht has become a turning point in EU’s history of democracy promotion. The Treaty stated that the EU was established on the basis of democratic principles. At the same time, it emphasized that one of the aims of the Common Foreign and Security Policy has been improving and consolidating democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights, and fundamental freedoms. Another turning point was the Copenhagen Summit in 1993. The Copenhagen criteria were accepted in the Summit. All candidate states are expected to apply the Copenhagen criteria in order to further their membership process. Copenhagen criteria consist of three elements. First, there are political criteria that consist of democracy, rule of law, human rights, and minority rights. Second, there is economic criterion that consists of having a functioning market economy. Third criterion is the ability to implement EU acquis communautaire. The second article of the Treaty of Lisbon also states that the EU is based on democratic values. In Article 21 it is emphasized that the Union would formulate its foreign policy according to democracy and rule of law.