Regional organizations are an inescapable feature of international politics. Virtually all countries in the world are members of at least one regional or other intergovernmental organization. In a globalized era of assertive competition and porous borders, the orthodox notion of nation-state is undergoing a major overhauling, which creates conditions for alternative political actors, such as regional organizations, to come to the forefront. Since the end of the Second World War, regional organizations have traditionally been formed around economic, political or environmental objectives. However, over the last decades these organizations have gradually penetrated into the peace and security sphere and developed their capacities in conflict prevention, peacekeeping, or post-war reconstruction. In Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas, regional and other intergovernmental organizations have been empowered by the UN and national governments to maintain peace and security concurrently.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan noted in his report ‘A Regional-Global Security Partnership – Challenges and Opportunities’ (2006) that, “even in a future situation in which the various roles of partner organizations are clarified, the partnership [with the UN] will not be effective if the vast discrepancy in the capacities of the regional and other organizations around the world is allowed to continue.” But what are their capacities?

In order to answer this question, the UN Department of Political Affairs – Unit on Cooperation with Regional Organizations has mandated the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS) to conduct the first systematic study of the integral capacities of all regional organizations with a security mandate. In the view of the project team, this included assessing the (i) organizational capacity (legal mandate and organic structure), (ii) resource capacity (financial and human assets), and (iii) operational experience (ground record) of each organization. The team has conducted interviews in the field, submitted a questionnaire to the organizations and carried out desk research in order to be able to survey the capacities of 21 organizations that are regularly invited to partake in the High Level Meetings between the UN and regional and other governmental organizations.

This is the first ever global survey of the capacities of all regional organisations in the field of peace of security (conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, enforcement, and peace-building).  Over the last decade, regional organisations have been empowered by the UN and national governments concurrently to maintain peace and security. The Survey maps out  - in a comparative and descriptive fashion - their history, capacities and operational experience. To carry out this Survey, UNU-CRIS assembled a team of 6 researchers and collected data through the (i) submission of a questionnaire to all regional organisations, (ii) field work, and (iii) desk research. The publication surveys 21 organisations.

Main research outcomes:

Capacity survey on regional organisations Download capacity survey

Rodrigo Tavares (2009), Regional Security. The Capacity of International Organisations. London: Routledge