Description
The proliferation of formal and ad hoc cooperation arrangements and the increasing complexity of the challenges and threats in the 21st century highlight the limitations of multilateral arrangements and formal international organisations. Cooperation on security and defence issues has demonstrated the increasing use of informal and small group settings as alternatives to formal multilateral frameworks, to advance and implement policies. European security is a prime example with the existence of a multitude of such informal and formal frameworks as well as club-like groups of like-minded states. Conceptually, the emerging scholarship has focused on different analytical approaches and concepts such as coalitions of the wiling, ad hoc coalitions for military operations and informal intergovernmental organisations (IIGOs). This paper examines the different minilateral groupings as a way of ordering European security relations with a particular focus on cooperation within NATO. The most prominent examples of minilateral groups include the E3, the Quad/the Quint, the Nordics and the Visegrád group. Based on the conceptualisations of informal cooperation and minilateralism, this paper sheds light on the effectiveness of both formal and informal minilateral cooperation arrangements within NATO by investigating their contributions to consensus-finding, policy-formulation and establishing new initiatives. The study of minilateralism and informal arrangements advances our understanding of alternative formats of global governance and cooperation arrangements in European security.
