Global Intergovernmental Organizations Research Articles

CEO selection in intergovernmental organizations: the clash between control and efficiency in governance

CEO selection is a crucial governance function influencing and driving the strategic direction of organizations. Extant research has largely assumed that boards are an efficient mechanism vested with the CEO selection function. However, boards are not always delegated with this function. In some organizations, the principals directly select the CEOs to keep effective control over the organization. Drawing on the clashing rationales of control and efficiency, this article identifies the factors influencing the governance choice of whether CEO selection is directly carried out by the principals or channeled through the board. Using a Bayesian logistic regression on a dataset of all global intergovernmental organizations, we find that the substantive character of ownership (i.e., capacity and incentive) matters more than the structure (i.e., diversity and dispersion) in such a governance choice. We also find that organizational characteristics barely have direct and moderating effects on the relationship between ownership structures and the governance choice of CEO selection. Our study has important implications for the literature on CEO selection, and strategic corporate governance research in general.

Engaging with responsible management in development economics using a student-led pedagogic tool

This paper proposes the development of a student-led pedagogic tool in an undergraduate development economics module offered in a UK business school. It uses the developing country informal sector as an illustrative example. The informal sector plays a huge role in contributing towards job creation, income generation, and poverty alleviation in developing countries. The overall goal of the tool is to propose recommendations of mechanisms that can be used to incentivise the informal sector to embed responsible management in their practice. The tool is to be jointly developed with students and other stakeholders in a developing country. Students are expected to acquire skills related to researching pertinent topics in the development economics field, critiquing policies and frameworks developed by global intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, and engaging with global stakeholders who are directly and indirectly impacted by these policies and frameworks. The paper highlights the connection between development economics, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The development of the tool also provides an avenue for business school students to bridge current gaps in educational institutions in developing countries in engaging with the PRME. The activities discussed in the paper present opportunities for business schools to be innovative and flexible in how they deliver responsible management education. This can ultimately expand the diversity of stakeholder involvement in contributing towards the SDGs and responsible management.

Engaging with responsible management in development economics using a student-led pedagogic tool

This paper proposes the development of a student-led pedagogic tool in an undergraduate development economics module offered in a UK business school. It uses the developing country informal sector as an illustrative example. The informal sector plays a huge role in contributing towards job creation, income generation, and poverty alleviation in developing countries. The overall goal of the tool is to propose recommendations of mechanisms that can be used to incentivise the informal sector to embed responsible management in their practice. The tool is to be jointly developed with students and other stakeholders in a developing country. Students are expected to acquire skills related to researching pertinent topics in the development economics field, critiquing policies and frameworks developed by global intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, and engaging with global stakeholders who are directly and indirectly impacted by these policies and frameworks. The paper highlights the connection between development economics, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations (UN) Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The development of the tool also provides an avenue for business school students to bridge current gaps in educational institutions in developing countries in engaging with the PRME. The activities discussed in the paper present opportunities for business schools to be innovative and flexible in how they deliver responsible management education. This can ultimately expand the diversity of stakeholder involvement in contributing towards the SDGs and responsible management.

Balancing Effectiveness and Control in Global Intergovernmental Organizations

In quantitatively exploring the governance structure of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)–key components of the global governance regime–we find both an effectiveness and a controlling rationa...

Slovenia’s Foreign Policy Opportunities and Constraints: The Analysis of an Interplay of Foreign Policy Environments

Abstract The article focuses on the interconnectedness of foreign policy environments to explain Slovenia’s opportunities and constraints for foreign policy action. During the period of pre-independence para-diplomacy, the building of an internal and external domestic environment successfully turned constraints (no international recognition) into opportunities (applying for membership of European and global intergovernmental organizations). In the second period - post-recognition - considering the absence of a strategic foreign policy document, the Slovenian internal foreign policy environment became a major constraint to seize foreign environment opportunities. This affected Slovenia’s accomplishments, notably after NATO and EU memberships were achieved in 2004. Although the Slovenian internal environment matured during the following period to adopt, in 2015, a comprehensive foreign policy strategy the recent turn in world politics (especially the European financial and economic crisis and the migration crisis) created for the first time a foreign environment for Slovenia that offered many fewer opportunities and far more constraints.

Borders and Duties to the Displaced: Ethical Perspectives on the Refugee Protection System

This essay proposes some ethical perspectives that can help in the task of reassessing the structure of the global refugee protection system in light of the extraordinarily high levels of refugee movement and forced migration occurring today. It addresses two chief areas. First, it considers whether ethical duties reach beyond the borders that separate nation-states and the implications of such duties for the treatment of refugees and other displaced persons. Drawing on classical ethical perspectives found in secular moral thought and in several religious traditions, the essay argues that national borders have moral weight, but that grave violations of the rights of displaced persons can create responsibilities that are more stringent than duties to co-citizens of one's own country. Second, the essay examines whether the duties to co-citizens or to displaced persons should take priority in various contexts. Negative duties that have particular urgency in the effort to shape a more adequate response to forced migrants are proposed, drawing upon classic criteria in the ethics and law of war. These include the avoidance of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of justice that often lead to mass displacement. Positive duties to come to the aid of the displaced are also developed in light of several standards: the needs of the displaced, the proximity and capability of the responder, whether the response is a last resort, and if the response can be carried out without disproportionate burden on the responder. These negative and positive duties are then drawn upon to argue for a significantly more active response to the needs of forced migrants by developed nations in the global north, by regional and global intergovernmental organizations, by secular and faith-based humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and by citizens at large.

Polyarchies, competitive oligarchies or inclusive hegemonies? A comparison of 23 global intergovernmental organizations based on Robert Dahl’s political theory

In this article, I assume that global intergovernmental organizations (GIGOs) function as enablers of interstate liberal politics by way of their multilateral institutional frameworks. To support this view, I recall and adapt the classical concept of ‘polyarchy,’ coined in the early 1950s by Robert A. Dahl. It consists of a two‐dimensional theoretical construct applicable for measuring the level of liberalization in modern political societies. It follows that the more actors who take part in politics, and the more such institutions allow political opposition, the more open a society (of states) is likely to be. I therefore assess and rate the level of polyarchization of 23 GIGOs that cover various issue areas and fit some specific criteria (for example, more than one hundred member states from at least three different continents). Methodology includes a scorecard developed to help achieve these research objectives.

Polyarchies, Competitive Oligarchies, or Inclusive Hegemonies? 23 Global Intergovernmental Organizations Compared

In this paper, I assume that global intergovernmental organizations (GIGOs) function as “enablers” of interstate liberal politics by way of their multilateral institutional frame-works. To support this view, I recall and adapt the classical concept of “polyarchy,” coined in the early 1950s by Robert A. Dahl. It consists of a two-dimensional theoretical construct applicable for measuring the level of liberalization in modern political societies. It follows that the more actors who take part in politics, and the more that institutions allow political opposition, the more open a society (of states) is likely to be. I thus wish to assess and rate the level of “polyarchization” of 23 GIGOs that cover various issue areas and fit some specific criteria (for example, more than one hundred member states from at least three different continents). The methodology section includes a scorecard that I have specially developed to help achieve these research objectives.

Public Health Disease Surveillance Networks.

Zoonotic infections are important sources of human disease; most known emerging infections are zoonotic (e.g., HIV, Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Nipah virus, and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli) and originated as natural infections of other species that acquired opportunities to come in contact with humans. There are also serious infectious diseases classically considered zoonotic, such as influenza, rabies, bubonic plague, brucellosis, and leptospirosis. More recently, it has been recognized that wildlife constitutes a particularly important source of novel zoonoses. With all this microbial movement, surveillance is considered the first line of public health defense. The zoonotic origin of many human and livestock infections argues strongly for the synergistic value of a One Health approach, which provides the capability to identify pathogens crossing into new species and could provide earlier warning of potential epidemics. This article discusses public health surveillance and major recent surveillance initiatives and reviews progress toward implementing a One Health surveillance framework. Networks discussed include global intergovernmental organizations and recent combined efforts of these organizations; Web-based nongovernmental systems (e.g., ProMED, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases); and networks of bilateral or multilateral government programs (e.g., the CDC's Global Disease Detection [GDD] platform; the U.S. Department of Defense's Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System [GEIS]; regional and subregional networks; and the U.S. Agency for International Development's Emerging Pandemic Threats [EPT] program and its surveillance component, PREDICT). Syndromic surveillance also has potential to complement existing systems. New technologies are enabling revolutionary capabilities for global surveillance, but in addition to serious technical needs, both sustainability and data-sharing mechanisms remain challenges.

Small States and (In)Security: A Comparison of Ireland and Slovenia

This article compares the defense and security policies of two of Europe’s smallest states: Ireland and Slovenia. The Irish military has a relatively small permanent force, based in part on their being sequestered from any major threat due to their island location, but there is also the precedent against a large military stemming from the nation’s long occupation by the British military. The Slovene military evolved concurrent with the Slovene state: a small, homogenous entity that embraced Western institutions and values. Despite a relative lack of experience in democratic civil-military relations, Slovenia has tenaciously promoted its place in the world, and developed an active and professional military within a democratic state. This essay aims to add to the theoretical understandings of the major security decisions—especially with respect to the civilmilitary dynamic—that small states make. This comparison is key in understanding overall patterns of democratic governance and civil-military relations. When compared to other states in the Northern Hemisphere, Ireland and Slovenia do not hold privileged positions in the defense and security realms, perhaps not meriting even a second glance. However, in a world of states that are interrelated through regional and global intergovernmental organizations, where the impetus for small-state participation is on the rise, understanding how states react internally at key stages in the development of the security apparatus can deepen our grasp of the issues and concerns that buffet the smaller players in the international realm. Thus, this article seeks to describe the interplay of the international ambitions of two small and successful European states and the influence on their respective civil-military dynamics. The research question that frames this comparative study is, What is the impact on the civil-military dynamic from Ireland and Slovenia’s joining the EU and their association with NATO (in Slovenia’s case as a member, in Ireland’s case via the Partnership for Peace)? Though not perhaps explicit, the dependent variable is the civil-military dynamic, with the common dependent variable each country’s commitment to

Global South Elites, Civil Society and the Democratization of International Development Institutions: A Gramscian Analysis of Leslye Obiora and the World Bank

Discussions of the interactions between African governments and global IGOs (inter-governmental organizations) are often based on the premise that despite their historical marginalization, states on the continent inherently posses some degree of agency in determining their development trajectory. While politically correct, is such an assertion true? Are players within African governments able to formulate development policy independently of global development IGOS (like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) or are decisions made by African governments still largely underpinned by the wishes of hegemonic development institutions? This essay argues for the latter interpretation.Using a Gramscian framework, I offer a case study of the World Bank's reaction to Leslye Obiora, the former Minister of Mines and Steel Development for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, when she rejected a $120 million World Bank loan that she deemed to be usurious. My thesis is that because of her rejection of the World Bank loans on behalf of Nigerian civil society, Obiora was thus viewed as a threat to the propagation of the World Bank’s hegemonic development ideology. A Gramscian organic crisis ensued, and, unable to ideologically co-opt her through the process of “transformismo,” the World Bank “rejected” Obiora in favor of a Minister more sympathetic to its pre-established development ideology. Due to their tendency to “reject” African elites who espouse alternative modalities of development for their nascent communities, I argue that the undemocratic nature of the International Financial Institutions leads African civil society to suffer an exclusion from the global development processes that are ostensibly intended for their benefit.This essay begins by introducing Leslye Obiora and offers a brief explanation of the conditions surrounding her resignation from her post as Nigeria’s Minister of Mining and Steel Development. It next proceeds by introducing various Gramscian concepts and relating them to the sundry players in the contemporary political-economy relevant to an investigation of Dr. Obiora’s interactions with the World Bank. In conclusion, it explicitly explains how a Gramscian, neo-Marxist vision of African governments’ relationships with the World Bank and IMF may be said to have ultimately led to Dr. Obiora’s resignation from her Ministerial post. Throughout, it emphasizes that although this is one interpretation of her experience, it should not be viewed as exclusively explanatory.

IO Mediation of Interstate Conflicts

Regional and global intergovernmental organizations have grown both in number and scope, yet their role and effectiveness as conflict managers is not fully understood. Previous research efforts tend to categorize organizations solely by the scope of their membership, which obscures important sources of variation in institutional design at both the regional and global levels. International organizations will be more successful conflict managers if they are highly institutionalized, if they have members with homogeneous preferences, and if they have more established democratic members. These hypotheses are evaluated with data on territorial (1816-2001), maritime (1900-2001), and river (1900-2001) claims from the Issue Correlates of War (ICOW) project in the Western Hemisphere, Europe, and the Middle East. Empirical analysis suggests that international organizations are more likely to help disputing parties reach an agreement if they have more democratic members, if they are highly institutionalized, and when they use binding management techniques.

Global Governance: Poorly done and Poorly Understood

A set of ethical issues—tensions between democratization and globalization, about some ways in which the global inequalities have increased, and about gross failures of contemporary international cooperation—provide reason to consider our understanding of global governance and the political forces organized to support or transform it. Many scholars agree on the existence of a global polity characterized by the dominance of neo-liberalism, the growing network of both public and private regimes that extend across the world's largest regions, the system of global intergovernmental organizations, and transnational organizations both carrying out some of the traditional service functions of global public agencies and working to create regimes and new systems of international integration. Scholars who emphasize the historically contingent social construction of human institutions and who focus on the transformative potential of transnational social movements have provided the greatest insight into what can be done to confront the ethical issues raised by contemporary global governance. Almost all analysts agree that the current great powers cannot be relied upon to facilitate progressive change, although that is only one reason why global governance is likely to remain inefficient and incapable of shifting resources from the world's rich to the poor, even though it may continue to play a role in promoting liberal democracy and the empowering of women.