How can we best account for the role of regional institutions in providing security?

Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict, Security, grade: 1, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, language: English, abstract: This essay addresses the question in how far regional institutions provide security. It will be analysed whether states use regional institutions as a tool to pursuit their national self-interest or whether regional organisations have an influence on a country's perception on security matters and help to create a security community. The Cold War period had a dual effect on regional conflicts. Conflicts that would otherwise have been local were subsumed within the superpower competition of the US-led (capitalist) Western and Soviet-led (communist) Eastern bloc. Fearing the other power might gain political influence such as in Africa, each superpower was driven to assist one or the other party of a conflict. Since the beginning of decolonization which began after the Second World War, the regional level of security became more autonomous and prominent in the developing world and the end of the Cold War accelerated this process. Both the remaining superpower (United States) and the other great powers had less incentive and were less inclined to intervene in security affairs outside their own regions. For these reasons, regional institutions have become more involved in the maintenance of peace and security in different parts of the world, e.g. the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The emergence of regional organisations has brought about contrasting views on their effectiveness as providers for security. Whereas skeptics claim that member states use regional institutions to follow their national self-interest instead of pursuing collective security, advocates argue that regional organisations are important components of any lasting peace.