What Question Should We Ask

Nature of Regional Organizations

What Question Should We Ask?

- Why are other regions’ IOs less extensive and institutionalized than European IOs?

- Why are European IOs broader and deeper than other region’s IOs?

Breadth and Depth of Regional IOs

Broad

Narrow

Deep

null

Shallow

OAS, AU, APEC

ASEAN, GCC

State-Age Hypothesis

- Older regional state-systems are more likely to have stronger IOs

- Measurement problem: STS development v. system membership

African Exceptionalism or ME/Asian Exceptionalism?

- Is OAU/AU unusually broad or are ME & Asian IOs unusually shallow?

Realist-Consistent Hypotheses

- regional rivalries impede broad & deep regional cooperation

o China v. Japan rivalry impeded Asian regionalism

o Iran v. Saudi Arabia, Iraq impeded ME coop.

o US v. rest of Americas (broad but shallow)

- extra-regional threats increase regional cooperation

o EU states faced the USSR (EU/NATO overlap)

Liberal Hypotheses

- Functional model: IOs deepen and broaden based on demand for coop. in functional areas

o ECSC → EEC/EURATOM → SEA → EU → Euro zone

o FTAs may not achieve this

- Inter-govermental bargains: common interest in expanding coop. generated at state level

o Governments see net gain to broadening & deepening

o SEA; NATO

o Is Europe anomalous?

- Transnational model: IOs broaden and deepen based on transnational societal demand

o SEA generated by European multinational pressure & EC-level “policy entrepreneurs”

o Similar coalitions absent outside Europe

Constructivist Hypotheses

- collective identities promote or detract from broad & deep regional coop.

o pan-Arabism v. Iran, Turkey; insufficient pan-Asian identity

o European community emerges

o Does this explain African or American regional IO patterns?

- Beliefs about collective security or economy affect regional IO patterns