Cooperation between international organizations: Demand, supply, and restraint

Abstract

Regime complexity characterizes the international system, as many international organizations (IOs) overlap in membership and competencies at the same time. Unmanaged overlaps endanger the effectiveness of IOs. Inter-organizational cooperation can mitigate such negative consequences. However, a novel dataset reveals that not all overlapping IOs cooperate with each other and the institutionalization of cooperation agreements varies. Why do some but not all overlapping IOs opt for cooperation agreements, and why do their designs vary? The analysis of a demand–supply–restraint model shows that increased exposure to overlaps creates a demand for IOs to reach cooperation agreements and for their strong institutionalization. States respond more favourable to the supply of cooperation agreements when they are used to international cooperation and internal authority-delegation. The restraint component underscores that IOs are less inclined to cooperate when ideological differences and power differentials between them are greater and that IOs choose highly institutionalized cooperation agreements when their ideological differences are limited.

Overlapping regionalism around the world: Introducing the overlapping regionalism dataset

“…Third, if overlaps remain unmanaged, the potential negative consequences are more likely to turn into reality. As research on inter-organizational relations suggests, RIOs can draw on a large toolkit of coping mechanisms to manage their relationships, such as cooperation, coordination and division of labour (Biermann and Koops, 2017; Panke and Stapel, forthcoming). The OVREG database provides crucial independent variables (overlap types as well as raw data on shared member states and identical policy competencies), which might influence when and why RIOs select particular coping mechanisms.…”

Regional Governance in Latin America: The More the Merrier?

“…The answer to these questions demands a deeper understanding of the architecture of regionalism in Latin America in order to reveal trends in overlap throughout time. The article builds on recent efforts by the scholarly literature and offers a portrait of overlapping regionalism based on data from the Regional Organizations Competencies Dataset (Panke and Stapel 2023a). The analysis confirms that institutional overlap has increased since 1945.…”