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The interconnection between international organizations (IOs) membership and democratization has become a topic of intense debate. However, the main focus of the literature so far has been on IOs created by democratic states and comprised mostly of democracies, for examples the European Union. In contrast to existing studies, this book focuses on another group of regional IOs, referred to as 'non-democratic IOs' which are organizations founded by autocracies.
How do these newly emerged organizations interrelate and interact with the outside world? How do they counteract and confront the danger of democratization in their own member states and neighboring states? This book aims to address these questions by developing a new theory of authoritarian regionalism, and by combining both quantitative and qualitative analysis to test it. The quantitative analysis uses a large dataset of all regional organizations worldwide for the post-World War II period, with the aim of defining historical trends in development and the modification of regionalism over the last seven decades (1945-2015). Qualitative analysis refines and develops the argument by looking at the case of post-Soviet Eurasia.
The book uncovers a new type of regionalism - 'authoritarian regionalism' and traces its historical roots as well as its implications for modern politics. The book is the first attempt to systematically investigate the functioning and the impact of authoritarian regionalism as a new phenomenon as well as its implications for democratization world-wide. The book contributes to the theory of regionalism, international organizations, studies of autocracies, foreign policy, and democratization world-wide.
List of contents
- 1: Introduction
- 2: Regionalism and Political Regimes
- 3: Authoritarian Regionalism
- 4: Studying Non-Democratic Regional Organizations: Methodological Issues
- 5: Membership and Governance
- 6: Impact on World Politics and Economy
- 7: Past Non-Dependency in the 21st Century
- 8: The Enigma of Eurasian Regionalism
- 9: Political Regionalism: The CIS
- 10: Economic Regionalism: The EAEU
- 11: Security Regionalism: The SCO
- 12: Conclusion
About the author
Anastassia V. Obydenkova is a Visiting Professor at the Institut Barcelona D'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI, Barcelona); leading research fellow at National Research University Higher School of Economics; research affiliate at the Institute for Economic Analysis (IAE- CSIC); co-director of the research project Regionalism and Regional International Organizations in a Fragmented World co-funded by Fung Global Fellows Program and by Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance, Princeton University. Her research focuses on international organizations, regionalism, democratization, autocracies, historical legacies, post-Communism, and China. She was awarded Fox Fellowship at Yale University, Fung Fellowship at Princeton University, and she was Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Senior Research Scholar at Harvard University.
Alexander Libman is Professor of Social Science and Eastern European Studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. His research focuses on comparative political economy of authoritarianism, impact of historical legacies on contemporary political and economic institutions, international cooperation of autocracies and Russian sub-national politics. His work was awarded the Knut Wicksell Prize from the European Public Choice Society and Gordon Tullock Prize from the Public Choice Society. He is a member of the editorial board of Post-Communist economies and co-chair of the Economy Group of the German Association for East European Studies.
Summary
This volume examines the subject of authoritarian regionalism, and is the first to systematically investigate the functioning and the impact of authoritarian regionalism as a new phenomenon as well as its implications for democratization world-wide.
Additional text
A key factor in the global expansion of democracy has been the growth of democratic regional organizations. But as Obydenkova and Libman show in this groundbreaking and exhaustively researched book, these must now contend with the new and potent phenomenon of authoritarian regionalism. Non-democratic regional organizations differ markedly from their democratic counterparts, but they have a similar effect in legitimating and sustaining the dominant regime type of the organization--in this case, authoritarianism. Through ambitious quantitative analysis and revealing case studies, Libman and Obydenkova make a vital and sobering contribution to the fields of comparative politics and international relations.
Report
This impressive book explores a new dimension in the relationship between political regime and international cooperation. In comprehensive empirical analysis that skillfully combines different methodological approaches and new data, the authors highlight how non-democratic regional organizations consolidate authoritarian rule through legitimation and economic benefits. The surprising finding is that international institutions form malleable political tools in the hand of leading states, whether authoritarian or democratic. Christina L. Davis, Harvard University
