Regional Security Governance Research Articles

Minilateralism and pathways to institutional progression: alliance formation or cooperative security governance?

ABSTRACT Even as essential definitional and conceptual issues related to ‘minilateralism’ remain unresolved, conjecture has arisen as to the future trajectories of established institutions, such as the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue (TSD), AUKUS, and the Quad. – Could they evolve into formal military alliances over time, or serve as the foundation of a new organisation aimed at providing regional security governance? To systematically evaluate such contingencies this article traverses a set of interrelated conceptual issues relating to minilateral institutionalisation. It seeks to differentiate minilaterals in terms of their ‘hybridity’ both in structural composition and functionality, and ascertain what this implies for their institutional progression. This process assists us in identifying on what grounds minilaterals might potentially evolve into a more formalised institutional paradigm – either (i) a military alliance or (ii) a cooperative security governance organisation. This foregoing conceptual apparatus is then brought to bear of on the case studies above to draw out clues as to their prospective institutional development pathways. The article concludes that, while such putative institutional transformations remain conceivable, in none of the cases is a particular pathway preordained. Instead, minilaterals may simply continue to adapt within the parameters of their present institutional boundaries.

Политика Китая в Центральной Азии: концептуальный контекст

The article discusses the state roles played by China in Central Asia from 2003 to the present, as well as the reactions of governments and civil society of the region to these roles. Within the framework of the theory of state roles the author characterizes four main Chinese roles in the Central Asian region: developer, connector, inter-governmental cooperation, and participant in regional security governance. The author also analyzes their influence on Chinese Central Asian policies. Furthermore, in the article the reactions of civil society and governments in the region to these Chinese roles are considered. Based on the analysis, the author presents two possible scenarios for the future development of Chinese policies towards Central Asian countries.

Budaya Maritim dan Diplomasi Maritim untuk Kepentingan Nasional

This paper discusses how pillars in Indonesia’s vision of Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) are interrelated, particularly maritime culture and maritime diplomacy. These two pillars need to be implemented as an entity concept. Previous literatures have mainly discussed how each of the pillars contribute to the realization of GMF vision. Based on the perspectives of International Relations theory, this paper explains how maritime culture can influence the formulation of strategy and implementation of Indonesia’s maritime diplomacy. The authors argue that the pillars of maritime culture and maritime diplomacy are reflection of the national interests supporting the GMF vision. Additionally, the embedded maritime culture in Indonesian society can have positive implications for the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of maritime diplomacy. If maritime culture can be managed, it would serve as an instrument of soft power, it would construct the national identity and it would drive the creation of regional security governance, maritime norms and regime that could serve as facilitating factors for the achievement of national interests through Indonesia’s maritime diplomacy. The pillar of maritime culture is the root of maritime diplomacy for achieving national interests.

Spaces of (in-)security and intervention: spatial competition and the politics of regional organizations in the Sahel

ABSTRACT This article investigates the interactions between three regional organizations – the G5 Sahel, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union – in the context of the Sahelian conflict. It argues that these organizations struggle for recognition by the international community and by their member states as the most legitimate regional security actor in the management of the conflict. By focusing on the politics driving these organizations’ interactions, this article makes two contributions. First, it complements and expands the literature on regional security governance by showing how these regional organizations are driven by legitimation struggles framed through spatial imaginaries. Each organization delineates a specific space of intervention – the Sahel, West Africa, the Sahelo-Sahara – to present itself as the right scale of governance. Second, identifying these spatial imaginaries enables a better understanding of African responses to the conflict in the Sahel, and provides insights into the reordering of (West) African security governance and, more broadly, the emergence of new modalities of security governance.

An Ocean Free of Nuclear Weapons? Regional Security Governance in the South Atlantic

Even though oceans are pivotal for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, they constitute a blind spot in the global non-proliferation regime. This article analyses how regional security governance mechanisms may fill such gaps by bringing a maritime focus to non-proliferation studies. With three nuclear-weapons-free zones and one zone of peace surrounding or covering its maritime space, the South Atlantic serves as an illustrative case to understand the provision of security governance for the seas. The article identifies a range of legal, political, and practical challenges that can impede regional initiatives from achieving security sovereignty over maritime spaces. However, while non-proliferation might remain precarious, these mechanisms are not without success, as they serve to establish the opposition to nuclear weapons as a recognised norm, both at the UN level and among the Global South. The narrative of non-proliferation also allows regional states to justify the pursuit of security objectives. The article concludes by outlining the conditions for regional maritime governance to become more effective in terms of non-proliferation.

The ASEAN way and the changing security environment: navigating challenges to informality and centrality

As one of the more successful regional organisations in the world, ASEAN has been the driver of regional institution building in the Indo-Pacific. The key features in the ASEAN-led institutions are the informality of these arrangements and the stamp of the ASEAN way in regional processes dealing with security challenges. The article argues that despite changes in the strategic landscape with new challenges like the political crisis in Myanmar, an increasingly belligerent Chinese position on the South China Sea issue, heightened rivalry between the US and China, and a host of transborder non-traditional security threats, informality entrenched in ASEAN way remains the preferred modality in regional security governance. But while informality has had limited success in managing certain regional issues in the past, the pressure for ASEAN to recalibrate its informal processes and make the organization fit-for-purpose to deal with twenty-first century security challenges has become more urgent than ever.

Going beyond Security Community and Balance of Power: South America's Hybrid Regional Security Governance

AbstractRegional security in South America cannot be explained simply by considering balance of power or security-community governance mechanisms. In this article, we present and discuss a hybrid security-governance approach for talking about governance security in the Americas, particularly, South America. We hypothesize that there exists a new security-governance configuration in which the traditional governance mechanisms—balance of power and security community—are not mutually exclusive, but overlap and coexist, leading to the emergence of a regional hybrid security architecture. Beyond explaining the reasons and causes for the overlap between security community and balance of power, we show the hybrid nature of regional security governance and point out how taking the hybridity conceptual approach fills the gaps within current research. We first offer a critique of two leading approaches to thinking about security in the Americas (balancing and security communities). Next, we show how the overlapping configurations in South America's regional security governance happen, testing Adler and Greve's (2009, “When Security Community Meets Balance of Power: Overlapping Regional Mechanisms of Security Governance.” Review of International Studies 35[S1]: 59–84) framework against historical evidence. Last, we provide evidence of a hybrid security governance in the region. We complement our analysis with qualitative data from interviews with scholars, political, diplomatic, and military actors conducted in various countries across the region. Our contribution is a significant step toward understanding how security-governance formations come about in non-Western regions of the world, privileging its specificities. More importantly, we offer a novel angle to escape straitjacket hypotheses to security governance grounded in Western hegemonic ideal types, which have focus either on balance of power or on security-community models.

NATO vs. the CSTO: security threat perceptions and responses to secessionist conflicts in Eurasia

ABSTRACT While there is a growing body of research on the role of international organisations (IOs) in regional security governance, relatively little attention has been paid to IO responses to the secessionist conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), in Abkhazia/South Ossetia in Georgia as well as in Crimea/Eastern Ukraine. This article explores the differences between NATO’s and the CSTO’s responses to the three conflicts. Our findings demonstrate that NATO neglected the conflict in NK which stands in sharp contrast to its active responses to the outbreak of war in Georgia (2008) and Crimea/Eastern Ukraine (2014). The CSTO, however, has largely avoided any engagement in all three cases. Three factors were of crucial importance to explain this variation: the level of regional security institutionalisation, both IOs’ geostrategic threat perceptions as well as both IOs’ mutual perception, hence, their IO-IO (non)relationship.

Conceptual visions of regional and global security

Introduction. Under the influence of globalization and regionalization; the world economic development is becoming more dynamic but contradictory at the same time; creating new challenges and threats for both individual countries and entire regions. This exacerbates the urgency of forming flexible systems of security cooperation and finding solutions to regional and global security problems.Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to systematize research on regional and global security governance and a review of the balance of geopolitical forces in Europe.Methods. The research was carried out using the following methods: analysis and synthesis – to characterize the modern mainstream of theoretical intelligence in the field of regional security; comparative analysis – to compare the structures of regional security management in different parts of the world; deductions and inductions – to form a conceptual model of global governance; tabular and visual methods – for visual presentation of the material.Results. The paper considers theoretical approaches to the interpretation of regional security. It is noted that regional security governance is a set of institutions and activities at three levels: global; regional and national. A nomenclature of different types of regional security governance structures is presented; which includes a regional balance of power and ad hoc (informal) alliances; regional coherence; regional cooperative security; regional collective defense; regional collective security; pluralistic security community. It has been recognized that regional security management is provided not only by highly specialized or formal structures; but also by multi-purpose regional organizations; which initially pursued a combination of economic and political goals with growing security targets. Conceptual options for regional security governance at the global and regional levels are systematized. Based on the analysis of the mechanisms of global management; own vision of the relationship between the subjects of global governance processes is presented.Discussion. The crisis of recent decades has shown that no single group of global governance actors can act effectively to minimize global risks; which are both a challenge for business leaders and politicians in any country. That is why it is undeniable that global issues require global governance (especially in the field of security); the main goal of which should be to ensure global stability and sustainable development.

Peace process protagonism: the role of regional organisations in Africa in conflict management

ABSTRACT Regional and sub-regional organisations in Africa play vital roles in the promotion of peace and security on the continent. The African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) mandates certain roles for AU-recognised Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and RECs have been active in many peace and security spheres from early warning to peace missions. This article seeks to illuminate the changing landscape of regional security governance in Africa, primarily through the lens of formal peace agreements, which are important tools for ending violent conflict. Extant research does not establish the frequency and capacity of regional organisations’ engagement in peace agreements. We present original quantitative data, systematically tracing these evolving and uneven activities. Our data establishes trends of REC peace agreement engagement that vary across Africa's sub-regions during 2002–2015. We further explore patterns of organisational interaction, presenting case studies of peace processes that highlight important variation in terms of the distribution of influence and authority.

Trans-state security complexes and security governance in West Africa

ABSTRACT Security discourse in contemporary times has brought to the fore the relevance of regions as indispensable loci for analysing, understanding and managing security challenges across many spaces of the globe. In the process of deepening this discursive analysis of regional security, scholars have developed a few concepts. Two of these analytical concepts are ‘security complexes’ and ‘regional security governance’. However, extant literature rarely examines the conceptual and empirical interplay between these two constructs. It is on this note that this article asks: how are security complexes and security governance impacting one another? To what extent could their pragmatic interactions shape the choice of regional organisations that will coordinate joint security undertakings? It argues that while it is the formation of security complexes from a trans-state perspective that will generate the necessity for regional security governance, the dissolution of such a complex equally demands an effective orchestration of regional security governance. The article also contends that the spatial scope of a trans-state security complex is a central factor for determining the appropriateness of the regional organisation that will coordinate its security governance project. It specifically draws on empirical evidence from West Africa to bolster these arguments.

Private Military and Security Companies and Regional Security Governance: An interpretive perspective of the United Arab Emirates policies

Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) are, currently, possessing huge potentials to be considered game-changers in international security. They have gained broader acceptance. However, they are controversial actors who could be indispensable in somewhere and risky in other where. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), is considered one of the Middle East region’s states, and it has recently made remarkable use of PMSCs outside its boundaries. The Middle East region is the most troubled region, where many countries are undergoing uncertain transition, in addition to many conflicts. The UAE pursues to avoid sliding in the same situation and attain some benefits given the region’s status quo. So, it seems like a window of opportunities that the UAE try to invest to enhance its influence. The theoretical framework for this article is underpinned by the concept of Security Governance as defined by the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance and the Regional Security Complex Theory developed by Barry Buzan. The article does not purport to make a judgment on the legitimacy of PMSCs, nor to evaluate the legal statute of their activities. Hereof this article focuses on two main parts; first, on reviewing the development of the relation between the PMSCs and the Middle East security governance and the second, it analyses the perspective of the UAE toward the use of PMSCs in addressing its regional policy regarding the Middle East region and the implications of this perspective in formulating such policies.

Reorganizing the Neighborhood? Power Shifts and Regional Security Organizations in the Post-Soviet Space and Latin America

AbstractThe article explores how power shifts in world politics and the emergence of regional powers affect regional security governance. We identify the post-Soviet space and Latin America as two regions where a traditional hegemon and Cold War superpower (the United States and Russia, respectively) has recently been challenged by a rising power (Brazil and China). In both regions, an older regional organization shaped by Cold War dynamics exists alongside a newer organization shaped by the rising power. But do similar patterns of power shifts lead to analogous types and trajectories of security governance? We analyze four security organizations from the two regions: the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from the post-Soviet space, and the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) from Latin America. We show how power shifts are reflected in (1) the factors driving organizational foundation and transformation, (2) the organizations’ security conceptions and practices, and (3) organizational overlap. Responding to the call for more studies in comparative regionalism, this article contributes to the debate on how powers of various kinds shape regions, regional organizations, and their security priorities, and adds new insights to research on overlapping regionalism.

La gobernanza de la seguridad alimentaria en América Latina: desde la cooperación Norte-Sur hacia la cooperación Sur-Sur

<p>Combatir el hambre y la desnutrición y garantizar la seguridad alimentaria son prioridades globales de acción, establecidas en la Agenda 2030, en el Objetivo 2: Hambre Cero. Su implementación requiere una acción compleja y coordinada a nivel nacional e internacional y el desarrollo de un modelo efectivo de gobernanza de la seguridad alimentaria en el futuro. América Latina es un ejemplo interesante de la regionalización de la gobernanza de la seguridad alimentaria. El estudio tiene como objetivo analizar el modelo latinoamericano con especial énfasis en el papel de las organizaciones regionales y demostrar que el modelo regional de gobernanza de la seguridad alimentaria se basa en el mecanismo de cooperación Sur-Sur, que promueve la cooperación y las acciones conjuntas de los países en desarrollo. El análisis se basa en dos supuestos: primero, debido a la naturaleza multidimensional de la seguridad alimentaria, está creciendo la importancia de la cooperación y las soluciones multilaterales; segundo, ante los nuevos desafíos, el modelo de la cooperación Norte-Sur, que domina el desarrollo internacional, se vuelve insuficiente y tiene que complementarse con otros arreglos. Como resultado, la cooperación Sur-Sur e intrarregional está ganando importancia en América Latina.</p>

India’s Policy toward Afghanistan: Implications to the Regional Security Governance

:As a major player in South Asia, India’s priority in Afghanistan is to support the Afghan government established after 2001. However, the political and security challenges after the announcement of US military withdrawal from Afghanistan have significantly impacted India. Afghanistan is facing a dual challenge on both security and political levels. On the security level, although the counter-insurgency measures taken by both international forces led by the US and Afghan forces have lasted for more than a decade, Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups continue to exert their strong political and security influence all across Afghanistan. At the political level, the new unity government, formed by Dr. President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, after the two terms of the presidency of Hamid Karzai, shows possible divisions and uncertainty. To address the new challenges, on the one hand, India tries to continue its “soft measures” to safeguard its interests in Afghanistan, while on the other hand, India strengthens the cooperation with international organizations and other regional states to create positive conditions for Afghan stability and reconstruction. However, given the political uncertainty and worsening security surroundings in Afghanistan, India still faces several challenges.

Food Security Governance in the Southeast Asia Region: from National to Regional Governance

Food constitutes the basic human need. Without food it is impossible to meet other needs. Southeast Asia – with its growing population, deteriorating environmental conditions, exposure to climate change and rapid economic development – is particularly exposed to its negative consequences. This analysis is based on the assumption that single states cannot achieve food security without some degree of international cooperation. The goal of the paper is to analyze the changing paradigms of food security governance in Southeast Asia and identify opportunities and constraints to regional food security governance in the ASEAN context.

Managing Security in a Zone of Peace: Brazil´s Soft Approach to Regional Governance

Abstract Given Brazil’s regional prevalence, its low, late and soft investment in regional security governance appears puzzling. We approach the puzzle through an analysis of contextual features, institutional overlap and policy networks, especially regarding nuclear energy and the environment. Our findings show that Brazil’s behavior is explained by a combination of low regional risks, scarce domestic resources, a legalistic regional culture of dispute settlement, and transgovernmental networks that substitute for formal interstate cooperation and deep regional institutions.Keywords: Brazilian foreign policy; Latin American regionalism; Regional Security Governance; Regional Powers; Policy Networks. Received: October 16, 2016Accepted: November 21, 2016 Introduction B razil is the largest Latin American country and represents half of South America, whether regarding area, population, the economy or overall national capabilities. Its rise has led many to expect it to become a regional leader, as both its defensive and offensive foreign interests spill over onto its neighbors (Arnson and Sotero 2009; Bethell 2010; Stuenkel 2013a; Trinkunas 2014). Yet, this expectation has not come to pass (Malamud 2011; Schirm 2010). Neither has Brazil shown the ambition or capacity to impose itself, nor have its neighbors felt the need to balance its power (Gardini and Almeida 2016; Schenoni 2015). Still, regional exchanges have increased substantially over the last three decades. In this article, we focus on the most crucial dimension of these interactions, namely security, in order to understand Brazil’s role in building regional governance.Brazil’s home region has two central peculiarities: first, its boundaries are fuzzy, second, its inner core has been characterized

On regional security governance once again: how analysis of the Southern Caucasus can advance the concept

ABSTRACTAlready introduced to the academic and political debate some years ago, the concept of “security governance” still needs to be clarified. In particular, four main shortcomings need to be overcome to make the concept more useful for an assessment of current security dynamics: in the first place, attention has been devoted more to “governance” than to “security”, while failing to consider the role of the understandings and perceptions of the actors involved in the governance system. Second, the literature on the actors (governmental or not) involved is still fragmented. Third, the literature on security governance has too often been detached from reflections on regionalism, while it would be useful to further explore the relationship between cognitive definitions of regional and security dynamics. Fourth, the literature has predominantly focused on Europe and the transatlantic area, overlooking processes of “region-building” in security terms in other “unexpected” geographical spaces. After proposing avenues to overcome the current gaps in the literature, the Southern Caucasus is chosen as a case study to show the different instances of security governance emerging, thanks to definitions of the region in security terms that have involved regional and external actors, of a state and non-state nature.

Regional security governance in the former Soviet space? Researching institutions, actors and practices

This article aims at studying the articulation of different security models in the former Soviet space. On the one hand, it explores the extent to which an Eurasian system of security governance has emerged/is emerging; on the other hand, it advances the idea that security governance in the region results from the co-contribution of formal and informal security practices. In spite of several methodological limitations when tracing practices, the article presents a preliminary classification of the sources of informal security practices in the former Soviet space, and identifies two mechanisms to explain how regional security governance can be affected by informal security practices.

Asian Strategic Partnerships: New Practices and Regional Security Governance

This article examines the use of strategic partnerships by Asian states as a means of enhancing national and regional security, as well as advancing economic and other objectives. It argues that strategic partnerships are best conceived as a new practice that signals the emergence of new forms of “security governance” in the region. It observes, however, that whereas early strategic partnerships were based on substantive shared agreement on “system principles,” contemporary strategic partnerships take different forms, some grounding closer cooperation between like‐minded partners and some intending to facilitate better management of partners with divergent values and interests. The contemporary behavior of the United States and its traditional and new security partners in the region conform to this general pattern. The article concludes that the proliferation of strategic partnerships and the emergence of regional security governance should prompt a reappraisal of traditional approaches to Asian security, which tend to concentrate on architecture and community at the expense of practices.