Crafting Cooperation Regional International Institutions in Comparative Perspective

Regional institutions are an increasingly prominent feature of world politics. Their characteristics and performance vary widely: some are highly legalistic and bureaucratic, while others are informal and flexible. They also differ in terms of inclusiveness, decision-making rules and commitment to the non-interference principle. This is the first book to offer a conceptual framework for comparing the design and effectiveness of regional international institutions, including the EU, NATO, ASEAN, OAS, AU and the Arab League. The case studies, by a group of leading scholars of regional institutions, offer a rigorous, historically informed analysis of the differences and similarities in institutions across Europe, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa. The chapters provide a more theoretically and empirically diverse analysis of the design and efficacy of regional institutions than heretofore available.

1. Comparing regional institutions: an introduction Amitav Acharya and Alastair Iain Johnston; 2. Hanging together, institutional design and cooperation in Southeast Asia: AFTA and the ARF Yuen Foong Khong and Helen E.S. Nesadurai; 3. International cooperation in Latin America: the design of regional institutions by slow accretion Jorge I. Dominguez; 4. Crafting regional cooperation in Africa Jeffrey Herbst; 5. Functional form, identity-driven cooperation: institutional designs and effects in post-Cold War NATO Frank Schimmelfennig; 6. Designed to fail or failure of design? The origins and legacy of the Arab League Michael Barnett and Etel Solingen; 7. Social mechanisms and regional cooperation: are Europe and the EU really all that different? Jeffrey T. Checkel; 8. Conclusion: institutional features, cooperation effects and the agenda for further research on comparative regionalism Amitav Acharya and Alastair Iain Johnston.

Regional institutions are an increasingly prominent feature of world politics but their characteristics and performance vary widely. Studying a range of international institutions, including the EU, NATO and the Arab League, a group of leading scholars of regional institutions examine the relationship between their design and their performance.

Amitav Acharya is Professor of International Relations in the Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, SIngapore.
Alastair Iain Johnston is the Laine Professor of China in World Affairs in the Government Department at Harvard University.