ABSTRACT
This chapter endeavors to lay the ground for the subsequent empirical analysis of a wide-range of relationships between multilateral organizations, encompassing multiple scales of governance, areas of the world and functions of security multilateralism. It is the job of the analyst of inter-organizational relations to investigate how the dialectic between cooperation and competition is orientated, functions and is produced. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the political stakes at play within this relationship, including whether the universality of the united nations or the local knowledge of regional organizations commands greater resources, legitimacy and authority to multilaterally govern international security. It examines one of the european union's main inter-regional relationships: its relationship to the african union. The book examines more complex chains or networks of inter-organizational relations, and emphasizes how interorganizational relations are embedded within efforts to govern particular security issues.
