Overlapping regionalism in Europe: Patterns and effects
| Author | Diana Panke,Sören Stapel |
| Published date | 01 February 2018 |
| Date | 01 February 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117737924 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148117737924
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2018, Vol. 20(1) 239 –258
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1369148117737924
journals.sagepub.com/home/bpi
Overlapping regionalism in
Europe: Patterns and effects
Diana Panke1 and Sören Stapel2
Abstract
European states have not only joined several regional organizations (ROs) over time, but ROs’
policy competencies have also broadened in scope. As a result, states are exposed to overlapping
regionalism, defined as the extent to which ROs share member states and policy competencies at the
same time. First, this article identifies patterns of overlapping regionalism in Europe. In second step,
it sheds light on consequences from overlapping regionalism for RO effectiveness, more particularly
non-compliance. We argue that an increase in the extent to which a member state is exposed
to overlapping regionalism increases its probability for violations of RO norms and rules, which
reduces RO effectiveness. When states have joined more ROs with similar policy competencies,
the number of rules and norms that need to be complied with is higher. Non-compliance also
becomes more likely when these rules and norms are not identical or even incompatible.
Keywords
compliance, Council of Europe, effectiveness, EFTA, EU, Europe, member states, overlapping
regionalism, regional organization
Introduction
While international relations (IR) research has long been mainly focusing on how states
cooperate in international organizations (IOs) under conditions of anarchy, the focus has
broadened in the last decades. Cooperation is no longer exclusively taking place in IOs
and international regimes but in regional organizations (ROs) as well (inter alia
Acharya, 2012; Breslin et al., 2013; Krickovic, 2015; Paul, 2012; Söderbaum, 2016;
Panke et al., 2017). ROs are forms of institutionalized cooperation between at least three
states on the basis of geographical proximity. While the European Union (EU) is the most
studied RO, it is by no means the only game in town (c.f. Panke et al 2015; Panke, 2013).
The number of ROs has increased from two organizations in 1945, the League of Arab
States and the South African Customs Union, to a total of 76 in 2015. Regional cooperation
does not only take place in all parts of the globe but also across a broad array of policy
1Seminar für Wissenschaftliche Politik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
2School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
Corresponding author:
Sören Stapel, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Konstepidemins väg 2E, 413 14 Göteborg,
SWE- Sweden.
Email: soren.stapel@globalstudies.gu.se
737924BPI0010.1177/1369148117737924The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsPanke and Stapel
research-article2017
Article
240 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 20(1)
areas (Börzel and Risse, 2016), such as economic policies, social policies, or environ-
mental policies to name but a few. Over time, states have joined several ROs, and ROs
have expanded their policy portfolio considerably. As a consequence, this has led to over-
lapping regionalism, defined as the extent to which ROs share member states and policy
competencies at the same time.
Overlapping regionalism is a global phenomenon. ROs that share member states while
also having similar policy competencies can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Americas. A 2012 snapshot shows that overlapping regionalism is a prevalent phenomenon;
there is not a single region in which overlapping regionalism has not emerged (Panke and
Stapel, 2016). Yet, so far we do not know how the phenomenon evolved over time and
what possible effects it has for the effectiveness of ROs. Thus, this article focuses
exclusively on one region, in this case on Europe, and addresses two research questions,
a descriptive and an explanatory one:
1. How has overlapping regionalism evolved over time and what patterns can be
detected for Europe?
2. What possible effects does overlapping regionalism have for the effectiveness of
ROs in Europe?
In the first part of the article, we shed light on how overlapping regionalism, defined
as the extent to which ROs share member states and policy competencies at the same
time, evolved in Europe. We selected Europe as a first step toward a comprehensive
global analysis of overlapping regionalism because this region encompasses the most
prominent RO, the EU, but also 13 other ROs, which differ in scope and breath. The sec-
tion ‘Exploring the phenomenon of overlapping regionalism in Europe, 1945–2014’
addresses the descriptive research question and demonstrates how the extent of overlap-
ping regionalism in Europe has increased over time. Strikingly, while overlaps were rare
before the 1980s, there were hardly any states that have not joined at least two ROs with
similar policy competencies by the 2000s. This trend has accelerated ever since. There is
also considerable variation between states. Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Russia are
highly exposed to overlapping regionalism, whereas Bosnia, Monaco, and the Holy See
are hardly exposed to overlaps between ROs in membership and policy competencies.
In the second part of the article, we explore whether overlapping regionalism impacts
the effectiveness of ROs. The consequences from overlapping regional institutions have
not been systematically examined thus far. Some contributions hold that these overlaps
might lead to intensified cooperation and offer learning opportunities (Gómez-Mera and
Molinari, 2014; Yeo, 2016). The majority of case studies, however, illustrate that over-
lapping regionalism may have negative implications—if the organizations do not engage
in coordination and cooperation to tackle potential inconsistencies (Gehring and Faude,
2014; Gómez-Mera, 2015; Hofmann, 2009; Weiffen et al., 2013). Yet, since case studies
cannot cover very long periods of time and several actors at once, we do not know much
about how an increase in overlapping regionalism impacts the effectiveness of ROs.
Thus, in the second part of this article, we investigate the relationship between overlap-
ping regionalism and regional effectiveness in adopting an x-centered research design.
We hypothesize that an increasing exposure of states to overlapping regionalism
increases the number of regional rules and norms as well as potential rule conflicts and
leads to non-compliance. In addition, we introduce two control hypotheses that recur to
power and capacities to explain why member states do (not) comply with regional rules
To continue reading
Request your trial