Since the path-breaking work of Karl Deutsch on security communities and Ernst Haas on European integration, it has been clear that international institutions may create senses of community and belonging beyond the nation state. Put differently, they can socialize. Yet the mechanisms underlying such dynamics have been unclear. This volume explores these mechanisms of international community building, from a resolutely eclectic stand point. Rationalism is thus the social theory of choice for some contributors, while others are more comfortable with social constructivism. This problem-driven perspective and the theoretical bridge building it are the cutting edge in international relations theory. By providing more fined-grained arguments on precisely how international institutions matter, such an approach sheds crucial light on the complex relationship between states and institutions, between rational choice and social constructivism, and, in our case, between Europe and the nation state.

In recent years, the question of the post-Cold War NATO, particularly in relation to the former communist countries of Europe, has been at the heart of a series of international reform debates. NATO in the "New Europe" contributes to these debates by arguing that, contrary to conventional assumptions about the role of international security organizations, NATO has been systematically involved in the process of building liberal democracy in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The book also seeks to contribute to the development of an international political sociology of socialization. It draws on arguments developed by political theorists, sociologists, and social psychologists to examine the dynamics and implications of socialization practices conducted by an international institution.

Socialization in international relations theory -- Mimicking -- Social influence -- Persuasion -- Conclusions.

An exploration of how the EU is influenced by multilateral institutions. There has recently been a dramatic increase in interaction between the EU and multilateral institutions. This book shows that international institutions shape EU policies, as well as acting as a source of preferences and strategies for EU stances internationally.

This Handbook addresses the increasingly contested issue of profound political importance: Europe's presence in multilateral institutions. It assesses both the evolving role of Europe in international institutions, and the transformations in international institutions themselves.

This book explores the concept and practice of resilience that has generated much debate among both scholars and practitioners. The contributions propose a new understanding of resilience, both as a quality and a way of thinking, taking it to the level of ‘the person’ and ‘the local’, to argue that a more sustainable way to govern the world today is bottom-up and inside-out. While carrying a seemingly unifying message of self-reliance, adaptation and survival in the face of adversity, resilience curiously continues to appear as ‘all things to all people’, making it hard for the EU and international institutions to make full use of its arresting potential. Engendering resilience today, in the highly volatile and uncertain world hit by crises, pandemic and diminishing control, becomes a priority as never before. This book develops a more comprehensive view of resilience by looking at it both as a quality of the system and a way of thinking inherent to ‘the local’ that cannot be engineered from the outside. It is argued in this volume that in some cases the level of ‘the person’, especially the person’s sense of what constitutes a ‘good life’, may be the most appropriate focus for understanding change and strategic adaptation in response to it. This understanding widens the scope of discussion from what makes an entity, system or person more adaptable, to how one can best govern today to establish a stable equilibrium between the global and the local, the external and the internal, and become more responsive to the challenges and changes of today’s highly uncertain world. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Contemporary Security Policy.