Introduction

Abstract

It seemed at the end of the twentieth century that co-operation had become one of the norms of international relations and would continue to flourish and grow in the twenty-first century. States had cooperated in traditionally difficult areas such as arms control and disarmament as well as agreed limitations on arms exports. States had also begun to co-operate in areas including environmental, economic and social policies. The emergence of co-operation, however, has not heralded the end of conflict in international relations. Instead co-operation, defined as the outcome of a decision by two or more states to co-ordinate policy to achieve gains they could not attain independently, is still the exception rather than the rule. Cooperation is difficult to achieve and hard to maintain, and remains elusive in many areas. This is particularly true in the security sphere as the costs of failed co-operation could be state security and, ultimately, survival. This book represents an attempt to explore under what conditions security co-operation between two states can take place and considers what factors hamper and facilitate co-operation.