ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of overlapping IOs and regime complexes is receiving increased scholarly attention. However, theory development is still in an early phase and thus early efforts have focused on typologies of interaction but have so far not given rise to a coherent theory of interaction. As of today there remains a plurality of approaches and theories which have been applied for analysing the phenomenon of institutional overlap and interplay. Thus the phenomenon this study is exploring corresponds to a number of theories that this section introduces and adjusts for later application. This section starts with reviewing three dominant streams within the literature of institutional interaction. These are regime complexity, interregionalism and inter-organisational studies. Although they all explore cases of interaction, their ontological focus varies. While regime complexity approaches only look at international regulatory regimes, the inter-organisational turn explores IOs and interregionalism takes a narrow regional perspective. For this study elements of these three streams of research are relevant for understanding the African security regime complex in peacekeeping. Although the study mainly explores interacting IOs, their interaction is played out in an environment that can be characterised well by regime complexity. A strong interregional component is also visible. Subsequent sections extend the theoretical ambit further to allow a more fine-tuned and application-driven approach for international peacekeeping to be built. The more macro oriented institutional interplay literature is therefore complemented by organisation theory and the concept of resource exchange. So far within security studies, the issue of overlapping and intersecting international institutions has not played a major role.1 Only the concept of regional security complexes2 comes somehow closer to the empirical phenomenon explored in this book and will be discussed too. However, akin to regime theory regional security complexes only explore single regimes and are missing the interaction component.3
