Comparative regionalism: The political economy of regional security organizations

After the end of the Cold War a respacing of international politics has begun – a new world order is emerging that is increasingly described as “multipolar”. Within this complex process regional organizations have been revived and started playing a major role. These real world dynamics are mirrored by the development of new approaches to the study of regional organizations, the “new regionalisms debate” properly being the most innovative one so far. As one result of this debate, a need for comparative (trans-)regional studies has been clearly established. In this proposed project the focus is on a policy field that is heavily understudied so far: The political economy and finances of regional organizations in general and regional security organisations (RSOs) in particular. How do RSOs source and manage their finances, and what are the implications of often high levels of co-financing by international partners in terms of ownership and sovereignty?