The contemporary international order combines growing geopolitical fragmentation with deepening functional interdependence. States compete for influence, seek greater strategic autonomy and remain reluctant to delegate sovereignty to supranational institutions. At the same time, many regional challenges — from transboundary water and energy security to connectivity, climate change and technological transformation — require sustained cooperation.
This panel addresses a central question: Can functional cooperation generate sustainable regionalism in the absence of regional hegemony and strong supranational institutions?
The panel invites theoretical, comparative and empirical contributions addressing four interconnected dimensions of this question:
1. Shared challenges and functional cooperation. Under what conditions do common and transboundary problems generate durable cooperation rather than competition? Particular attention is given to water and energy security, climate adaptation, connectivity, trade and other areas of practical interdependence.
2. Power asymmetry and state agency. How do middle powers and smaller states shape regional agendas and institutions when cooperation takes place under conditions of unequal capabilities and geopolitical competition?
3. Institutions without hegemony. What formal and informal arrangements can sustain regional cooperation when states are unwilling or unable to create strong supranational institutions? Can flexible, issue-based and networked forms of cooperation provide viable alternatives to traditional models of regional integration?
4. Technology and regional governance. How are artificial intelligence, shared data infrastructures and digital decision-support tools changing regional cooperation? Can these technologies facilitate coordination and collective management of shared challenges, or do they create new forms of dependency and asymmetry?
The panel welcomes contributions from Eurasia, Central Asia and other regions of the Global South, as well as cross-regional comparisons. By bringing together different policy fields and regional experiences, it seeks to identify the conditions under which functional cooperation can evolve into more durable forms of regionalism in an increasingly fragmented international order.