Principal-agent (PA) has come a long way since it was introduced to the political science sphere. Nowadays, PA has established itself as an institutional midrange theoretical framework that encompasses various methodological as well as theoretical approaches. This article argues, however, that scholars still assume, a priori, that the agent is an opportunistic and disloyal actor. This article seeks to question this theoretical assumption by demonstrating how principals could be as much problematic as their agents, a phenomenon that it terms "pathological delegation." In so doing, it offers a first analysis of the small strand of the literature that examines problems embedded in the principals' side as well as provides new empirical evidence in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Finally, the article posits that scholars should not treat pathological delegation as an anomaly but rather attempt to integrate, test, and develop new theoretical assumptions on this phenomenon.

The European Union (EU) and China are on a quest to establish themselves as global actors. Still, both powers first need to create a stable neighbourhood that will not threaten their interests. Consequently, in 2004 the EU launched the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), while in 2013 China’s Peripheral Diplomacy (CPD) was introduced. Against this background, this article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of both initiatives. Specifically, as there is a wide agreement that the ENP has failed to generate any impact on the EU’s periphery, the research question is: To what extent could the CPD transcend the problems of its European counterpart? The article posits that both policies are rather similar in their inability to strike the right balance between protecting core interests and acknowledging the neighbours’ needs. Thus, it is likely that the CPD, just like the ENP, will remain a policy with big potential but without effective results.

In the last four decades, the Strategic Triangle concept has established itself as an eclectic theoretical framework in the research domain of triangular analysis. As international politics has evolved, the literature on Strategic Triangle has followed suit. Specifically, it appears that scholars have succeeded in transcending beyond the ‘traditional’ regional setting and conceptualisation by testing existing theoretical assumptions, developing new models and offering new insights into the dynamics of triangular relationships. Against this background, this contribution primarily aims to provide a state-of-the-art, comprehensive overview of the scholarly literature on Strategic Triangles. This article also seeks to illustrate the existing room for further engagement and analysis of triangular relationships by offering concrete recommendations on how researchers could further develop the Strategic Triangle concept.

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