Nested Games: Regional Actors in Multilateral Negotiations

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Research has shown that regional organizations (ROs) are often striving to make their marks beyond their home turf, such as the European Union in its neighborhood policy. The project is also interested in the external actorness of ROs, but with a different focus. It sheds light on the role of ROs in multilateral negotiations across a series of international organizations (IOs). With the increase in the number of ROs and IOs since the end of WWII and the overlapping membership of states in both, ROs turn de facto into actors in IOs. Examples include ASEAN in the International Labour Organization (ILO) concerning unemployment insurance issues or Mercosur supporting the initiative for a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Thus, the project draws on multilevel governance approaches to shed light on the phenomenon of the regionalization of multilateral negotiations. Based on a broad range of different ROs and IOs and based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods it analyzes how actively ROs participate in IO negotiations and how influential they are in shaping international norms. Are some ROs more active than others and are some IOs especially prone to RO activity and why? Under which conditions can ROs exert influence over international norms although they are not usually members of IOs?