Theorising inter-organisational relations: the “EU–NATO relationship” as a catalytic case study

ABSTRACT

This article explores the historical evolution of research on the “European Union (EU)–North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) relationship” since the 1950s and examines the numerous ways in which it has served as an important case study for applying and developing theory-guided and conceptual research on inter-organisational relations (IOR) in International Relations. After a dearth of policy-oriented research during the 1990s and early 2000s, a wide range of scholars have contributed to a “conceptual turn” in the study of EU–NATO during the last decade. This development, as this article will argue, not only signifies a stronger interest by scholars to understand the complex relationship between both organisations with the help of more theory-driven research, but also highlights that the EU–NATO relationship has become a “catalytic case study” in terms of inspiring conceptual experimentation and advancing efforts to theorise IOR more generally. The article provides for the first time a systematic stock-taking and analysis of the richness of concepts and theoretical debates related to EU–NATO relations research and offers scholars wider insights into the most promising approaches and analytical tools for understanding and theorising EU–NATO relations.

KEYWORDS:

• EU–NATO relationship
• inter-organisational relations
• resource dependence theory
• overlap
• multi-level analysis
• population ecology
• practice turn
• principal–agent theory
• isomorphism
• theories of inter-organisational relations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Joachim A. Koops is Dean of Vesalius College of Global Affairs, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Research Professor at the VUB's Institute for European Studies and Director of the Global Governance Institiute (GGI), Brussels. His research focuses on inter-organisational relations and global governance with particular focus on UN, EU and NATO approaches to peace and security. Recent publications include The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Oxford University Press, 2015 (with N. MacQueen, T. Tardy and P. D. Williams), the Palgrave Handbook of Inter-organizational Relations in World Politics, Palgrave, 2017 (with R. Biermann) and Europe's Return to UN Peacekeeping? Special Issue for International Peacekeeping, 2016 (with G. Tercovich).

Notes

1 The term “EU–NATO relations” may also refer in this article to relations between NATO and the institutional predecessors of the “EU”, in case of developments prior to 1993, such as the European Community (EC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

2 Lodgaard alluded to insights from organisation theory about bureaucratic inertia and organisational survival when assessing NATO's capacity for continuing existence despite dissolution of the Soviet Union .