Sebastian Oberthür - The Performance of the EU in International Institutions

The Performance of the EU in International Institutions

The Performance of the EU in International Institutions marks one of the first attempts to systematically analyse the subject. It focuses on the role of the EU in decision-making within international organizations and regimes as a major locus of global governance. The book unpacks the concept of EU performance into four core elements: effectiveness (goal achievement); efficiency (ratio between outputs accomplished and costs incurred); relevance (of the EU for its priority stakeholders); and financial/ resource viability (the ability of the performing organization to raise the funds required). Based on the case studies herein, the findings presented in this book relate to the identified core elements of performance with a particular emphasis on the dimensions of effectiveness and relevance. Most notably, the EU appears, on balance and over the past two decades, to have become much more relevant for its member states when acting within international institutions. The book highlights four particular factors explaining EU performance in international institutions: the status of relevant EU legislation and policies, the legal framework conditions including the relevant changes that the Lisbon Treaty has brought about, domestic EU politics, and the international context.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Sebastian Oberthr is Academic Director of the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Recent publications include Managing Institutional Complexity: Regime Interplay and Global Environmental Change (MIT Press, 2011).

Knud Erik Jrgensen is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University. Previous publications include The European Union and International Organisations (Routledge, 2008).

Jamal Shahin is Assistant Professor in the Department of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Previous publications include The Idea of a United Europe: Political, Economic and Cultural Integration Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall (Macmillan, 2000).

The Performance of the EU in International Institutions

Edited by

Sebastian Oberthr, Knud Erik Jrgensen and Jamal Shahin

First published 2013

by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Taylor & Francis

This book is a reproduction of the Journal of European Integration, vol. 33, issue 6. The Publisher requests to those authors who may be citing this book to state, also, the bibliographical details of the special issue on which the book was based.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN13: 978-0-415-62239-4

Publishers Note

The publisher would like to make readers aware that the chapters in this book may be referred to as articles as they are identical to the articles published in the special issue. The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen in the course of preparing this volume for print.

The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (November 2011). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:

Introduction: Assessing the EUs Performance in International Institutions Conceptual Framework and Core Findings

Knud Erik Jrgensen, Sebastian Oberthr & Jamal Shahin

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 599620

The Legal Framework for the Participation of the European Union in International Institutions

Ramses A. Wessel

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 621636

The EU at the World Bank: Institutional and Policy Performance

Eugenia Baroncelli

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 637650

The Performance of the European Union in the International Labour Organization

Robert Kissack

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 651666

The European Unions Performance in the International Climate Change Regime

Sebastian Oberthr

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 667682

The European Unions Performance in the International Telecommunication Union

Jamal Shahin

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 683698

The EUs Performance in the World Health Organization: Internal Cramps after the Lisbon cure

Louise van Schaik

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 699714

The Rise and Fall(?) of the EUs Performance in the Multilateral Trading System

Alasdair R. Young

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 715730

The EUs Performance in the United Nations Security Council

Spyros Blavoukos & Dimitris Bourantonis

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 731742

The EUs Performance with and within NATO: Assessing Objectives, Outcomes and Organisational Practices

Nina Grger & Kristin M. Haugevik

Journal of European Integration, volume 33, issue 6 (Nov 2011), pp. 743757

Knud Erik Jrgensen* Sebastian Oberthr** & Jamal Shahin***

*Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark;

**Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium;

***Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, and Department of European Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

ABSTRACT This article introduces the analytical framework of the collection on the performance of the EU in international institutions and summarizes its main findings. We focus on the role of the EU in the decision-making within international organizations and regimes as a major locus of global governance. We suggest unpacking the concept of EU performance into four core elements: effectiveness (goal achievement); relevance (of the EU for its priority stakeholders); efficiency (ratio between outputs accomplished and costs incurred); and financial/resource viability (the ability of the performing organization to raise the funds required). Based on the case studies of the collection, the findings presented in the second part of the article relate to the identified core elements of performance with a particular emphasis on the dimensions of effectiveness and relevance. Most notably, the EU appears, on balance and over the past two decades, to have become much more relevant for its member states when acting within international institutions. Moreover, the findings highlight four particular factors explaining EU performance in international institutions: the legal framework conditions (including the relevant changes that the Lisbon Treaty has brought about), domestic EU politics, the status of relevant EU legislation and policies, and the international context.