scholarly journals The long march through the institutions: Emerging powers and the staffing of international organizations

2020 ◽  
pp. 001083672096601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Parizek ◽  
Matthew D Stephen
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
Bric Countries ◽  
Staffing Patterns ◽  
Emerging Powers ◽  
Economic Size ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
India And China

How successful have emerging powers been at increasing their representation within the secretariats of international organizations (IOs)? We examine the representation of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN) System, including the UN Secretariat, over the last two decades. The analysis reveals four major findings. First, some redistribution of staff positions from established to emerging powers has taken place, but it has been relatively minor. Second, nationals from emerging powers are still strongly under-represented in international secretariats in comparison with those from established powers. Third, emerging powers’ representation at the IMF and WTO increased more than in the UN, where it actually declined. Fourth, there is strong variation between emerging powers: India appears to be the most successful emerging power in sending its nationals to the secretariats of IOs, Brazil’s and China’s records are mixed, and Russia has fared poorly. We interpret our findings in light of international relations theories and theories of institutional path dependence. The results suggest that staffing patterns are only loosely related to shifts in economic size and are subject to strong independent institutional dynamics.

20. International organizations in world politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Park
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

This chapter examines the role that international organizations play in world politics. It explains what international organizations are, whether we need international organizations in international relations, and what constraints and opportunities exist for international organizations to achieve their mandates. The chapter also considers the reasons why states create international organizations and how we can analyse the behaviour of such organizations. Two case studies are presented: the first is about the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the G77, and the second is about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the interests of money-centre banks. There is also an Opposing Opinions box that asks whether international organizations suffer from a ‘democratic deficit’.

Walking the middle path: The characteristics of Indonesia’s rise

2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Awidya Santikajaya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Bric Countries ◽  
The Third ◽  
Regional Leadership ◽  
Middle Powers ◽  
Bridge Building ◽  
Strategic Autonomy ◽  
Emerging Powers ◽  
India And China

This article provides a framework to help understand Indonesia’s rise. Although the study of emerging powers has flourished in recent years, much discussion is devoted to explaining large emerging powers, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). Indonesia’s rise is overlooked because its material capabilities are less than those of the BRIC countries. In order to characterize the emergence of Indonesia, this article establishes a set of parameters to distinguish Indonesia from BRIC and middle powers. The parameters are: (1) attitude toward the international order; (2) performed role; and (3) nexus between regional and global roles. This article argues that Indonesia displays three characteristics that distinguish it from BRIC and middle powers—(1) soft-revisionist; (2) normative bridge building; and (3) accommodative regional leadership. The third and fourth sections of this article test these characteristics through G20 and climate change case studies. This article concludes that the characteristics of Indonesia’s emergence are located in a conundrum between those of BRIC and middle powers. Although it shares some characteristics with BRIC countries, Indonesia is carefully trying to keep a distance from BRIC and to maintain strategic autonomy in relations with other international actors.

New International Factors of Twenty First Century

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Saif Nasrat Tawfiq Al - Haramazi
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
First Century ◽  
International Context ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Important Input ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
International Interaction

There are many non-traditional additions to the influential works in the international or international context, which have expanded and become very large.  Some of them have not entered into this field of international relations. Hence the need to supplement, renew and add new concepts There digital (electronic) factor, has become the key to the hard and soft domination of international units, and an important input in international relations, especially the twenty-first century. We have been able to explore the reality of the international interaction based on (cooperation, competition, conflict). In conclusion, the global system will remain state-based and international organizations. At the same time, it will continue to be born and no states in its interactions with the ease of use of digital technology by individuals on the planet..

Multinationals from the BRIC-countries investing in German firms: Impacts on industrial relations

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2020) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Martin Franz ◽  
Sebastian Henn
Keyword(s):  
Current System ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Bric Countries ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Target Firms ◽  
Patterns Of Communication ◽  
Run Up ◽  
Works Council ◽  
India And China

Often, investments from emerging economies in firms in industrialized countries evoke concerns among the employees in the targeted firms. Many of them are afraid of losing their jobs, or fear that the new owners could undermine existing social standards. Up to now, little is known about how such investments affect industrial relations in targeted countries. Using the example of investments from the BRIC-countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in German firms, this paper analyses whether employees’ fears are well founded. To this end, four different factors are considered. These include: (1) the situation of the target firms in the run-up to an acquisition and the employees’ reactions to the takeover, (2) the investors’ knowledge of the current system of industrial relations, (3) the day-to day interactions with the new owners, and (4) the patterns of communication between works council representatives and the new owners. The empirical part of the article is based on an analysis of quantitative data as well as the application of problem-centered interviews with members of work councils, trade union representatives as well as managers.

Managing Maritime Competition between India and China

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingdong Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Emerging Powers ◽  
India And China

This chapter provides a perspective on China’s growing security presence in the Indian Ocean and the strategic imperatives behind it and then India’s responses to these initiatives. The author argues that despite the apparent threats this presence presents to India, there are approaches that India and China can explore to reduce the risk of conflict. Jingdong Yuan also reviews China’s growing security presence in the Indian Ocean and the strategic imperatives behind it and India’s responses to these initiatives. Yuan argues that it is imperative that policymakers in both New Delhi and Beijing make concerted efforts to ensure that these two emerging powers can manage, if not completely avoid, their overlapping interests and ever-closer encounters in the Indian Ocean.

Time in International Organizations and International Organizations in Time

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugénia C. Heldt
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Incremental Change ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
Pressure Time ◽  
Multilateral System ◽  
System Time ◽  
Over Time

Time plays a central role in international organizations (IOs). Interactions among actors are embedded in a temporal dimension, and actors use formal and informal time rules, time discourses, and time pressure to obtain concessions from their counterparts. By the same token, legacies and innovations within and outside IOs can be examined as a dynamic process evolving over time. Against this background, this chapter has a twofold aim. First, it examines how actors use time in IOs with a particular focus on multilateral negotiations to justify their actions. Drawing on international relations studies and negotiation analysis, this piece explores six different dimensions of time in the multilateral system: time pressure, time discourse, time rules, time costs, time horizons, and time as a resource. Second, this chapter delineates the evolution of IOs over time with the focus on innovations that emerge to adapt their institutional system to new political and economic circumstances. This piece looks particularly at endogenous and exogenous changes in IOs, recurring to central concepts used by historical institutionalism, including path dependence, critical junctures, and sequencing. This allows us to map patterns of incremental change, such as displacement, conversion, drift, and layering.

scholarly journals The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Parizek ◽  
Matthew D Stephen
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Panel Regression ◽  
Institutional Control ◽  
Normative Pressure ◽  
Shared Interest ◽  
Staffing Patterns ◽  
United Nations System ◽  
Nations System ◽  
Global Population

Abstract Although international organizations (IOs) and their secretariats play important roles in international politics, we know surprisingly little about their staffing composition and the factors that shape it. What accounts for the national composition of the secretariats of IOs? We theorize that the national composition of international secretariats is shaped by three factors: the desire by powerful states for institutional control, a commonly shared interest in a secretariat's functional effectiveness, and, increasingly, a need for secretariats to be seen as legitimate by being representative of the global population. Building on recent constructivist literature, we argue that IOs face increasing normative pressure to be representative in their staffing patterns. Using panel regression, we assess our argument with a new dataset covering states’ representation in the secretariats of thirty-five United Nations system bodies from 1997 to 2015. The results indicate that while functional effectiveness plays a significant and stable role, international secretariats have become increasingly representative of the global population. Moreover, this has come primarily at the expense of the over-representation of powerful states. This shift from power to representation is particularly strong in large IOs with high political and societal visibility. When it comes to IO secretariats, representativeness (increasingly) matters.

Blessing or Curse?

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-459
Author(s):  
Lisa Katharina Schmid ◽  
Alexander Reitzenstein ◽  
Nina Hall
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
The Past ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Donor States

Abstract Earmarked funding to international organizations (IO s) has increased significantly over the past two decades. International relations scholars have examined the causes of this trend, but know less about its effects on UN entities. This article identifies different types of earmarked funding, varying from low to high discretion delegated to IO s. Secondly, it examines trends in the UN Development Programme and UN Children’s Fund and finds that both have significant proportions of earmarked funding with low discretion. Drawing on thirty interviews, the article notes four implications of tightly earmarked financing: 1) higher transaction costs for IO s; 2) less predictable funding; 3) overhead costs that are rarely covered; and 4) increasing competition for financing. Overall, the article highlights that earmarked financing exists on a spectrum from tight to minimal control by donor states, and this has important implications for multilateralism.

Political processes in the post-Soviet space: new trends and old problems

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
Post Soviet Space

The authors of the book analyze domestic political processes and international relations in the post-Soviet space. They examine the balance of political forces in Belarus after the presidential elections in August 2020, and transformations of political systems in Ukraine and Moldova. The main features of formation of the political institutions in the countries of South Caucasus and Central Asia and the latest trends in their devel-opment are analyzed. Attention is paid to the Karabakh and Donbass conflicts. The book examines the policy of major non-regional actors (USA, EU, China, Turkey) in the post-Soviet space. The results of develop-ment of the EAEU have been summed up. The role in the political processes in the post-Soviet space of a number of international organizations and associations (the CIS, the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the CSTO etc.) is revealed.

How Well Does R2P Travel Beyond the West?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith Mabera ◽  
Yolanda Spies
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Western World ◽  
The West ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Domain State ◽  
The Status ◽  
Emerging Powers

R2P invokes the power-morality nexus in international relations and interrogates the rules of engagement that anchor international society. Conceptualization of R2P as a liberal Western construct can therefore be divisive, especially when operationalization of the norm—as happened during the 2011 intervention in Libya—feeds into a West-against-the-Rest narrative. This is unfortunate because the R2P doctrine has deep roots in the non-Western world—Africa in particular—and Global South perspectives continue to strengthen its conceptual development. Emerging powers challenge the status quo of structural power and their rhetoric on R2P often invokes mistrust of Western altruism in international politics. Their actions, on the other hand, prove that they are no less prone to realpolitik in the normative domain. State actors in the normative middle of international politics, including developed as well as developing countries, are well placed to bridge the West-versus-the-Rest schism and to provide leadership in the R2P discourse.

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