Prof. Dr. Tobias Lenz (German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Professor of International Relations at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany) joins the GLOBE Webinar Series to discuss his new book Interorganizational Diffusion in International Relations: Regional Institutions and the Role of the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2021). Prof. Dr. Kolja Raube (KU Leuven) as the dicussant will then offer some reflections before an audience Q&A.
About the book: How and under what conditions does the EU shape processes of institution building in other regional organizations? This book develops and tests a theory of interorganizational diffusion in international relations that explains how successful pioneer organizations shape institutional choices in other organizations by affecting the institutional preferences and bargaining strategies of national governments. Lenz argues that Europe’s foremost regional organization systematically affects institution building abroad, but that such influence varies across different types of organization. Mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, it shows how the EU institutionally strengthens regional organizations through active engagement and by building its own institutions at home. Yet the contractual nature of other regional organizations bounds this causal influence: EU influence makes an identifiable difference primarily in those organizations that, like the EU itself, rest on an open-ended contract. Evidence for these claims is drawn from the statistical analysis of a dataset on the institutionalization of 35 regional organizations from 1950 to 2017, as well as from single and comparative case studies on institutional creation and (non-)change in the SADC, Mercosur, ASEAN and NAFTA.
About the author: Prof. Dr. Tobias Lenz is Professor of International Relations at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies. His research focuses on international and regional governmental organizations, EU in global regionalism, international institutional complexity, institutional design and evolution, legitimacy and legitimation, and diffusion theories.
Discussant: Prof. Dr. Kolja Raube (KU Leuven)
Moderator: Alex Andrione-Moylan (KU Leuven)
Participation is free and the webinar can be joined from anywhere in the world.