The purpose of this research project is to analyse the opportunities and challenges that the foreign and security policy research institutes face in transnational cooperation across wider Europe. By specifically examining the capacities of non- and quasi-governmental actors to operate and cooperate at transnational level, the research informs the choices presented by the ongoing restructuring of the foreign and security policy sphere. The increasing deterritorialisation of foreign and security policy issues calls for transnational or multinational approaches to resolve them. As nation states fall short of the appropriate capacities, it is of interest to investigate how non- and quasi-governmental actors can contribute to transnational interaction. Therefore, their tools and capacities to operate and cooperate in the transnational sphere need to be established in the first place. In this context a broader geographical focus is chosen in order to study a more differentiated situation, instead of the already relatively integrated case of the European Union. The thesis first studies cooperation among research institutes in broader terms under consideration of their socio-political environment. It outlines differences in their organic development dependent on the geographic affiliation of the institutes, and identifies their tools as well as several defining characteristics. This is followed by an analysis of the fieldwork, discussing processes, opportunities and challenges in transnational cooperation as perceived by staff in research institutes. Subsequently, the thesis takes a more detailed look at applied cooperation among research institutes. Here it traces patterns and formats of interaction, and then delves into a case study on project- based cooperation that provides functional insights regarding research institutes cooperation across borders. In studying cooperation among research institutes from various perspectives, the research enables to investigate the integration among the different narratives. The study integrates a range of issues and concepts in an original manner, therefore it contributes to several significant debates. On the face of it, the thesis adds to the identification of a role for non- and quasi-governmental actors in an increasingly deterritorialised foreign and security policy sphere, using the example of research institutes. To address this aspect, the study considers both the broader implications of socio-political and economic interrelations for cooperation, as well as the detailed functional level of interaction. Moreover, based on the choice of geographical focus, the research project contributes to the literature on EU-Russia relations. Herein it adds to the extant literature by offering a perspective which acknowledges the implications of high politics but emphasises the role of non- and quasi-governmental actors. Beyond that, the thesis contributes to the theoretical debate on foreign and security policy in choosing a non-traditional approach to examine a non-traditional issue. Post-structuralism serves to facilitate a critical review of the construction of cooperation among Russian and EU-based public policy research institutes.

Abstract  This thesis is concerned with examining the intersection between the areas of international commercial arbitration and money laundering. There are various points of connectivity between the two and the aim of this thesis is to discern how an arbitrator should conduct arbitral proceedings involving money laundering. For this purpose, a few selected topics have been examined. The practical challenges arising out of these topics, as well as the tools available to arbitrators to face them have been analysed in turn. After a brief inquiry into the nature of international commercial arbitration, money laundering and the ways that they come together, the topics of jurisdiction, the norms applicable to the substance of the dispute, and matters of evidence are subject to discussion. In studying these topics, a recurring theme, which goes to the very heart of the intersection between the seemingly odd areas of international commercial arbitration and money laundering, is discernible. In practically all of the challenges that an arbitrator will face when adjudicating a dispute involving money laundering a conflict of interest between the pivotal principle of party autonomy and other interests will arise. These interests originate from the public policy concerns vested in countering money laundering and the criminal law nature of this phenomenon. The tools which the arbitrator deem to be applicable as well as the conduct that he might choose in regards to the topics discussed, very much depend on his perception of the role that international arbitrators ought to assume in this conflict. Keeping these conceptual building blocks in mind the author, whilst examining the relevant legal instrument, case law and legal commentary, reaches the conclusion that arbitral tribunals ought to claim jurisdiction over disputes arising out of contracts tainted by money laundering in the majority of cases. The author also reaches the conclusion that there are other norms than the lex contractus that can be applied to the substance of the dispute and that the willingness to apply them will depend on the attitude of the arbitrator. Similarly, the arbitrator could, and arguably should, investigate the issue of money laundering of his own accord, albeit with a few important reservations. The rules of evidence, especially those of the burden of proof and standard of proof, should be tailored to reflect the nature of the complex offence of money laundering. Finally, the eventual possibility for an international arbitrator to report suspicions of money laundering is touched upon.