PARTNERS IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT? EU-UN cooperation in the DRC and Chad

Abstract

This thesis seeks to explain the reason why international and regional organisations have started to cooperate, especially after the Cold War. Cooperation amongst organisations has gained importance as a field of research in the last decade, but most of the scholars have rather given a descriptive contribution and recognised the legal implications on the matter. There has been in this sense a lack of an in-depth analysis that provides a theoretical explanation of cooperation linked to an empirical analysis. This research aims at filling this gap by focusing on the cooperation between the European Union and the United Nations in the field of crisis management. It derives expectations that are going to be analysed and discussed from three interconnected theories: neoliberal institutionalism, organisational and inter-organisational theory. The study has been conducted employing a qualitative Comparative Case Study analysis method. Two case studies have been analysed and compared: the EU-UN joint mandate in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003, namely Operation Artemis, and the one at the border between Chad and the Central African Republic in 2008 called EUFOR Chad/CAR. The findings show that organisations cooperate to exchange best practices, share information and lower transaction costs. However, most of the time their cooperation is driven by personal interests and there is still a lack of trust towards each other regarding military interventions. The impact on the conflict has positive effects only on the short term and it is narrowed to the scope of the joint mandate.