Visegrad Four cooperation during the migration crisis
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Together with the unprecedented migration flow in Europe, 2015-2016 period marked the date of
the increased visibility of the four Central European states, otherwise known as Visegrad Four
group. The Visegrad Four earned its fame by staying united against the EU proposals on tackling
the migration crisis and soon became the focus of many academic queries. Along such academic
line, this research too focuses on the case of Visegrad cooperation during the migration crisis and
attempts to challenge already existing theoretical model on international cooperation with this
particular case study. The selected theoretical model developed by Blondin & Boin (2020) put
forward eight factors based on the collective action and crisis management theories which,
according to the authors, explain the reasons states decide to cooperate in times of crisis. This
research employs the pattern-matching technique to compare between the expected patterns
derived from the aforementioned theoretical model and observed patterns based on the case of
the Visegrad Four. As a result of the pattern matching analysis, the study confirmed four factors
such as repeated interaction, feasible solutions, a small number of actors, trusted leadership to be
true in the case of the Visegrad Four cooperation, while crisis exposure was just partially
confirmed and the remaining factors such as domestic politicization, interdependence, and
coordination mechanism were disconfirmed.