" During the days of the East-West conflict, international institutions and organisations were part of international life, whether as intra-bloc institutions (WFO, COMECON, NATO, EC etc.) or as global or all-European ones (UN, CSCE). With the fundamental ideological and political divide gone the question arises: are there new prospects for fresh attempts to address the common problems and challenges by cooperation through international institutions? The old institutions must be transformed and adapted to the new ...
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" During the days of the East-West conflict, international institutions and organisations were part of international life, whether as intra-bloc institutions (WFO, COMECON, NATO, EC etc.) or as global or all-European ones (UN, CSCE). With the fundamental ideological and political divide gone the question arises: are there new prospects for fresh attempts to address the common problems and challenges by cooperation through international institutions? The old institutions must be transformed and adapted to the new requirements in order to realise the new opportunities for cooperative problem and conflict solving: in comparison with the past, institutionalised cooperation must incorporate new policy areas, competencies, instruments and decision-making procedures for a functional and politically adequate and effective handling of the institutions' list of tasks. This process of institutional adjustment in itself is a process of international bargaining. Asymmetries of concerns and the resu
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