Why Unintended Consequences Matter in Interregional Relations

Unintended consequences point to an important aspect of contemporary international relations and policies which is their complexity. Interregional relations, with their variety of actors, policy sectors and outcomes can produce a broad range of unintended effects. A focus on these effects will enable us to look at the practices of interregional relations, the struggles and conflicts at play between the actors involved, asymmetries of power and the contingency of these relations. Furthermore, it is important to note that ‘unintended consequences’ do not have to be about failure. They can be linked to failure but, more broadly, they can be conceptualised as being different from actors’ intentions whether they reinforce, adversely affect or reorient actors’ intended objectives. Baert (1991, 201) refers to unintended consequences as ‘a particular effect of purposive action which is different from what was wanted at the moment of carrying out the act, and the want of which was a reason for carrying it out.’ Merton (1936, 903), conceptualises unintended consequences in this way: ‘with the complex interaction which constitutes society, action ramifies, its consequences are not restricted to the specific area in which they were initially intended to centre, they occur in interrelated fields explicitly ignored at the time of action.’ This paper will provide a theoretical contribution discussing how the unintended consequences of interregionalism can be conceptualised and how they can be empirically analysed paying particular attention to the issue of power asymmetries in the case of the EU relations with regions in the Global South.