Regional Organizations in Global Politics: Navigating a Changing World

Amid a resurgence of global geopolitical rivalry, regional organizations are poised to play an increasingly prominent role in addressing current and emerging governance challenges. Two regional organizations in the Global South that have navigated this changing world order are the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

While the AIIB has had to contend with growing tensions between China and the West, ECOWAS has faced successive coups in and withdrawal of member states. Join the Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics for a conversation with AIIB expert and SIS professor Tamar Gutner and ECOWAS expert Emmanuel Balogun on the changing role of regional organizations in global politics today. SIS PhD Candidate Sahil Mathur will moderate the discussion, which will be followed by Q&A with the audience.

Refreshments will be provided for this lunchtime event.

Speakers:

is Associate Professor at the School of International Service. Her research and teaching focus on the performance and effectiveness of international organizations, particularly international financial institutions, and their role in global and regional governance. Her forthcoming book, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: China’s Multilateral Experiment (OUP), studies the birth and design of the AIIB and examines the new multilateral development bank in a larger context of Chinese development finance strategies. She is the author of International Organizations in World Politics (CQ Press) and Banking on the Environment: Multilateral Development Banks and Their Environmental Performance in Central and Eastern Europe (MIT Press). In 2019, she was a Council on Foreign Relations Fellow at the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a financial correspondent for AP-Dow Jones in New York and London.

is Associate Professor of Political Science at Skidmore College. His research focuses on how African countries engage with multilateralism to position themselves in international policy. His book, Region-Building in West Africa: Convergence and Agency in ECOWAS, shows how bureaucrats in ECOWAS influence regional governance (Routledge 2022). He is a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a “Good Fellow” with Good Authority. He received the 2021 Skidmore College President’s Award for Excellence. Emmanuel is a first-generation Nigerian-American. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Delaware, an M.A. from Western Illinois University, and a B.A. from New England College, where he was a first-generation college student. Emmanuel serves on the Board of Trustees at New England College and is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member.

is a PhD Candidate in International Relations and Adjunct Instructor at the School of International Service. His research and teaching focus on the role of regional organizations, especially in the Global South, in global governance. His doctoral research examines regional organizations’ interventions in political crises in their member states. Sahil has conducted field research in Abuja, at the ECOWAS headquarters. His work has been published by the Centre for Democracy and Development, The Diplomat, and E-International Relations. Sahil holds an MPhil in International Relations from American University, an MPhil in International Organization from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and an Integrated MA in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Host or Publisher School of International Service