 Informal multilateral associations and their agreementsPamela Aall and Chester A. Crocker Chapter 15 in Handbook on the Politics of International Agreements, 2026, pp 230-241 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: In an age of transactional foreign policy and weakening international institutions, states are increasingly joining together in informal multilateral arrangements (IMAs) to achieve common ends. While IMAs differ from each other in their goals, organization, membership, and modes of operation, they do share characteristics. They see themselves as responding to a specific issue and united by an interest in addressing that issue. They are generally light on administrative arrangements and often function without a secretariat or permanent headquarters. Decision-making revolves around consensus; if, however, a member disagrees with a decision, there is no requirement to participate. Ad hoc and episodic, these informal multilateral arrangements preserve flexibility and choice for participants but perhaps at the cost of lower impact. This chapter examines several types of IMAs, including groups of friends, collective conflict management arrangements, and security pacts, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this growing phenomenon. Keywords: Multilateral; International Cooperation; Diplomacy; Security; Conflict Management (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22652_16 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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