Regional Organizations’ Relations with International Institutions

Author(s):  
Joris Larik

This chapter compares the law and practice of regional organizations regarding their engagement with international institutions. This includes treaty-making, joining and participating in international organizations, and the question to which extent member states are being replaced by their regional organizations. The chapter uses the European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as case studies given that they represent two radically different forms of regional integration. While the former is a case of deep, supranational sovereignty-pooling, the latter is an example of distinctly sovereignty-friendly intergovernmental cooperation. Both ASEAN and the European Union have codified sets of internal norms for conducting their external relations. Both are avid treaty-makers and interact systematically with international institutions. However, this chapter explains how the difference in the organizations’ internal modes of operation translates into different approaches in their external relations. The European Union’s highly formalized approach leads to taking on a state-like position in many situations, but without always replacing its member states. By contrast, ASEAN’s sensitivity toward national sovereignty results in its member states and the Association never appearing together. It is always either one or the other that engages internationally. ASEAN member states interact with other powers, whereas ASEAN as a legal person interacts with other international organizations, with the one exception—the European Union.

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Brewer

In May 2011, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 65/276 to provide the European Union with an “enhanced observer status” to participate more extensively in the General Assembly. The EU needed to restructure its participation in international organizations following the Lisbon Treaty, and this resolution effected some of those changes. Numerous UN member states expressed concerns that the expanded participation rights might compromise the integrity of the General Assembly as an inter-state entity. Ultimately, the rights granted pose a minor speculative threat, but offer a considerable opportunity at increasing the ability of regional organizations to better represent the common positions of their member states in the General Assembly and to improve the efficiency of the General Assembly.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Herschinger ◽  
Markus Jachtenfuchs ◽  
Christiane Kraft-Kasack

In recent years, a growing literature has argued that European Union (EU) member states have undergone a profound transformation caused by international institutions and by the EU, in particular. However, the state core – the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force, embodied by the police – seemed to remain intact. The literature has argued that in this area, international institutions are weak, and cooperation has remained informal and intergovernmental. We take issue with these claims and evaluate the strength of international institutions in two core areas of policing (terrorism and drugs) over time. We find that in terms of decision-making, precision, and adjudication, international institutions have become considerably stronger over time. Even when international institutions remain intergovernmental they strongly regulate how EU member states exercise their monopoly of force. Member states are even further constrained because adjudication is delegated to the European Court of Justice. Thus, even the state core is undergoing a significant transformation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Woch

The issue of drugs is an important problem for the European citizens and it poses a serious threat to safety and health of the European society. This is mainly due to the fact that one of the basic features characterizing the problem of drugs is its changeable and dynamic nature. Furthermore, the drug-related phenomena haveno borders, they exist everywhere where people live and affect all social classes. The European Union is one of the international organizations which, both by its own activities and the efforts of the member states, attempts to prevent and fight the adverse effects associated with drug abuse. The implementation of such a goal is possible thanks to the activities of the agency responsible for the holistic study of the problem of drugs and drug addiction and for popularization of the obtained information among the EU institutions, Member States and other organizations. The purpose of the article is to present the activities of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, whose role is to provide factual, objective, reliable and comparable information of the European standard on drugs and drug addiction as well as their effects both on the European Union itself andthe member states.


Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
A. O. Chetverikov

In recent years, Russia has invested significant assets in unique scientific facility of the “Megascience” class that are being built or are already operating on the territory of foreign countries, mainly member states of the European Union: the International Thermonuclear Research Reactor-ITER (France), the European X-ray Free Electron Laser-European XFEL, the Large Hadron Collider (Switzerland and France), etc.How reliable and safe are such investments in the context of the sanctions policy of the West, including the EU, against our country? To what extent are they protected by the principle of immunity of states and international organizations, which is generally recognized, but is not interpreted and applied in different legal systems? The paper considers these issues in the context of the development of the judicial practice of the supranational institution of the judicial power of the EU, namely the Court of Justice of the European Union and the concept of relative immunity (immunité relative) formulated herein.Having conducted a comparative legal review of the current state of the sources of law and doctrine on the issues of immunity of states and international organizations, the author analyses and evaluates the decisions of the EU Court of Justice and the legal positions of its attorneys General: — Mahamdia v. Algeria, 2012: for the first time ECJ formulates the concept of relative immunity in relation to states;— "Rina" and "Suprim" cases, 2020: EU Court clarifies the interpretation of the concept of acta iure imperii (acts of public authority), in respect of which states retain immunity in the EU, and extends its concept of relative immunity to international intergovernmental organizations.The final section deals with legal issues that yet to get a clear answer in the practice of the EU Court of Justice. In this regard, the author highlights possible directions of its evolution, and studies other recent decisions of the EU Court of Justice that may affect Russia’s national interests in the context of cooperation with EU member states in the scientific and technical sphere, including megascience, and in other areas.


Author(s):  
Mihail Poalelungi ◽  
◽  
Mihai Poalelungi ◽  

The process of European integration has never followed a clear path and the current EU predecessors had never been by far the only efforts of the regional integration in Europe. Created in the 1950s, the European Communities as today’s EU predecessors, have overdue emerged in a very broad area populated by international organizations and various cooperation institutions. This organization, only by matching economic and political challenges, succeeded in becoming the most important cooperation forum between European states. Although in the early 1950s the Western European states could often choose between various forms of regional cooperation, today the EU is frequently seen as the only available at the European level option and the only model of institutional governance.


Author(s):  
Berman Paul

This chapter examines the unique characteristics of the European Union in conducting its external relations, including its limitations and complex division of responsibilities. The Union’s position on the international stage has frequently been seen as ambiguous. Its extensive common policies and legislation, and its extensive relations with third States and international organizations, can create the expectation that the European Union can or should act at the international level in a manner akin to that of a single State. However the Union can only act within the limits of the powers conferred on it by its Member States under the EU Treaties and the complex division of responsibilities amongst the Union’s own institutions. As such, dealing with the European Union at the international level can indeed be perplexing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-177
Author(s):  
Mădălin-Cătălin Blidaru

"The African continent inherited borders drawn by foreign actors for centuries, with a limited influence exerted by its internal political structures. This impacted its development across decades, acting as a contributing factor to economic, social and political conflicts, some of them resulting in further divisions in time: new states emerged, while the federal structures developed within some states remain unstable. In this paper, the author investigates the current regional groupings of states established in different African frameworks in an attempt to answer the question “how external actors influence and legitimize the development of regions” in 21st century. From a functionalist perspective, it explores the motives for the formation of a wide range of regional integration and cooperation organizations. The case study of G5 Sahel, an institutionalized regional arrangement focused on security and development of its member states, is analyzed as an arrangement emerged with support from France and the European Union. The case study analysis trails the cooperation with these two foreign actors with the G5 Sahel member states in the five years, focused on evolution, financing and joint initiatives – including to what extent these contributed to consolidation of the regional borders. Keywords: region-building, G5 Sahel, regional cooperation, European Union, development cooperation "


2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Duke

AbstractThe Lisbon Treaty may well be on ice, may perhaps even be moribund, but there remain compelling reasons to think through the identified shortcomings of the European Union in external relations. Many of the innovations in the area of external relations that are contained in the treaty are dependent upon ratification by the EU's member states, but some are not; the European External Action Service (EEAS) falls into the latter category. Although the actual implementation of the EEAS will face formidable hurdles, as has been outlined in this contribution, the exercise of thinking through these challenges is essential if the EU and its members are to begin grappling with many of the issues examined in this special issue — ranging from the role of national diplomats in today's world to the successful pursuit of structural diplomacy and the effectiveness of the EU in multilateral organizations.


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