International Police Organizations: Interpol and Europol Overlap and Interaction

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the correlation between the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the European Police Office (Europol) structurally, operationally, and functionally. to scrutinize the proposition that a distinction between these two organizations is not just about the extent of membership but also about the functions, roles, and the degrees of homogeneity and autonomy of the organizations. The methodological approaches employed are the fragmentation of international organizations and international law, regime theory, and bureaucratization theory of policing. Interpol and Europol perform dissimilar roles in the international system being instruments, arenas, and actors. At the same time, they do perform significant functions by providing international standardized norms and rules, responsible for rule application and exchange of information. This represents respective international regimes and different models of governance and administration in the field of combating transnational crimes. Keywords: International Police Organizations, Interpol, Europol, Regimes, Fragmentation, Bureaucratization, Autonomy and Homogeneity