How can we avoid Britain being cut out of the EU’s foreign policy negotiations?

When it comes to the currently evolving renegotiation of the UK-EU relationship, much of the attention has so far been focused on the single market and on free trade issues, but EU policy areas are much broader in scope. Hylke Dijkstra argues that we now need to focus on the practicalities and to fight for continued, intensive cooperation in various areas, especially foreign policy

Institutional design for a post-liberal order: why some international organizations live longer than others

Many international organizations (IOs) are currently under pressure and the demise of the liberal international order is the talk of town. We theorize that institutional characteristics help to explain why some IOs survive external pressures where others fail. We test this argument through a survival analysis of 150 IOs (1815–2014). We find that the only significant variable explaining the death of IOs is the size of the secretariat: IOs with large bureaucracies are good at coping with external pressures. In addition, IOs with diverging preferences among members and those that are less institutionalized are more likely to be replaced with successor organizations. We find that institutional flexibility included in the treaties does not have an effect on survival. This is surprising because the purpose of flexibility clauses is precisely to deal with external shocks. Finally, we also find that systemic and domestic factors do not explain IO failure. In conclusion, we should not write off the liberal international order all too quickly: large IOs with significant bureaucratic resources are here to stay

COVID-19 and Policy Responses by International Organizations: Crisis of Liberal International Order or Window of Opportunity?

The liberal international order is being challenged and international organizations (IOs) are a main target of contestation. Covid-19 seems to exacerbate the situation with many states pursuing domestic strategies at the expense of multilateral cooperation. At the same time, IOs have traditionally benefited from cross-border crises. This article analyzes the policy responses of IOs to the exogenous Covid-19 shock by asking why some IOs use this crisis as an opportunity to expand their scope and policy instruments? It provides a cross-sectional analysis using original data on the responses of 75 IOs to Covid-19 during the first wave between March and June 2020. It finds that the bureaucratic capacity of IOs is significant when it comes to using the crisis as an opportunity. It also finds some evidence that the number of Covid-19 cases among the member states affects policy responses and that general purpose IOs have benefited more

Immune to COVID? The striking resilience of international organisations

As countries closed their borders and quarrelled over vaccines, some thought there was little role for international organisations. Yet, say Maria J Debre (University of Potsdam) and Hylke Dijkstra (Maastricht University), many have managed to carve out a role for themselves and emerged strengthened from the pandemic

Supporting global governance: A rules-based approach for a post-liberal order?

From “effective multilateralism” in the European Security Strategy to a “rules-based international order” in the Global Strategy, the EU has been at the forefront of supporting global governance. Yet global governance is increasingly under pressure and pundits are now regularly talking about the post-liberal order. How does the EU implement the Global Strategy with its focus on a rules-based international order against the background of Trump's "America First", the BRICS challenging the status quo, and Brexit undermining the Union's international standing? Unfortunately the EU is currently too much a bystander as the edifice of global governance is coming down

Governance abhors a vacuum:The afterlives of major international organisations

International organisations have become increasingly contested resulting in worries about their decline and termination. While international organisation termination is indeed a regular event in international relations, this article shows that other institutions carry the legacy of terminated international organisations. We develop the novel concept of international organisation afterlife and suggest indicators to systematically assess it. Our analysis of 26 major terminated international organisations reveals legal-institutional and asset continuity in 21 cases. To further illustrate this point, the article zooms in on the afterlife of the International Institute of Agriculture in the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Refugee Organization in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Western European Union in the European Union. In these three cases, international organisation afterlife inspired and structured the design of their successor institutions. While specific international organisations might be terminated, international cooperation therefore often lives on in other institutions

Time to Re-engage with Kosovo and Serbia: Strengthening EU Foreign and Security Policy amidst Internal Contestation

With the 15th year anniversary of Kosovo’s independence approaching in 2023, the status quo of the Kosovo-Serbia conflict looks increasingly untenable. For more than two decades, the European Union and its member states have heavily invested in bringing this conflict to a close through initiatives, such as the facilitated dialogue and the EULEX rule of law mission along with the accession process for both countries. Sidestepping internal disagreement on the status of Kosovo and relying heavily on the creativity of EU institutions, EU member states have pursued technical and “status-neutral” policies in the hope that these would bring about normalisation between the two countries. This approach no longer suffices in the wake of increasing multipolar competition with Russia and China and continued regional fragmentation of the Balkan area. Following the Russian war in Ukraine, geopolitical considerations require the EU and its member states to increase their efforts and re-engage with the Kosovo-Serbia conflict. These geopolitical challenges generate a (short-term) window of opportunity for the EU to work towards an end-state, mitigate internal contestation and get both countries firmly back on their paths of European integration and regional reconciliation