Beschreibung
During the days of the East-West conflict, international institutions and
organisations were part of international life, whether as intra-bloc
institutions (WFO, COMECON, NATO, EC etc.) or as global or all-European ones
(UN, CSCE). With the fundamental ideological and political divide gone the
question arises: are there new prospects for fresh attempts to address the
common problems and challenges by cooperation through international
institutions?
The old institutions must be transformed and adapted to the new requirements in
order to realise the new opportunities for cooperative problem and conflict solving:
in comparison with the past, institutionalised cooperation must incorporate new
policy areas, competencies, instruments and decision-making
procedures for a functional and politically adequate and effective handling of the
institutions‘ list of tasks. This process of institutional adjustment in itself is a process
of international bargaining. Asymmetries of concerns and the resulting differences of
interests in a given policy area most likely go along with varying
positions and preferences regarding institutional innovation.
The articles of this volume address changes of international organisations
which were in different ways directly linked to the East-West conflict,
i. e. the
United Nations, the CSCE, NATO and the EU. Which institutional adjustments have
occurred within the various frameworks? Which institutional qualities have evolved,
and what political significance can be expected by the institutions today or after the
process of adjustment to the new international realities will have been more or less
completed?