Overlapping institutions on the way to non-hierarchy: EU-NATO relations between 1993-2016

This study aims to analyze the dynamics of cooperation and competition between the EU and NATO between 1993 and 2016. Specifically, this research evaluated the dynamics of cooperation and competition between the EU and NATO within the scope of functional overlapping and hierarchy, which are basic dimensions of the regime complex theory developed in the first ten years of the 21st century. The study shows that the EU and NATO jointly operate in the field of military crisis management policy. At the same time, the study argues that although there is a hierarchy in favour of NATO between the EU and NATO, this hierarchy has decreased over time. This thesis states that both cooperation and competition dynamics can be seen between the two organizations because the EU and NATO operate jointly in military crisis management policy area. However, based on the decreasing hierarchy between EU and NATO, this thesis argues that the relationship between the two organizations is on the way from cooperation to competition.