Rethinking International Organizations

by Dijkzeul, Dennis; Beigbeder, Yves; Dijkzeul, Beigbeder

• ISBN13: 9781571813800
• ISBN10: 1571813802
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

The management of international organizations is attracting growing attention. Most of this attention is highly critical of both the UN system and International NGOs. Sometimes, this criticism lacks depth or reflects insufficient understanding of these organizations, or is based on narrow, and sometimes biased, internal political concerns of a particular country. International relations theory has insufficiently studied the type of linkages that these organizations provide between international decision-making and Northern fundraising on the one hand, and practical action in the South on the other. As a result, current theory too rarely focuses on the inner functioning of these organizations and is unable to explain the deficiencies and negative outcomes of their work. While the authors identify and describe the pathologies of international organizations in, for example, international diplomacy, fundraising, and implementation, they also stress positive elements, such as their intermediary role. The latter, in particular, could form the basis of more efficient and effective policies, in addition to other recent trends, also described in this volume, that hold hope for a stronger functioning of these organizations in the future. This book presents a long overdue empirical and theoretical overview of criticism on and cures for these organizations. It provides a fundamental rethinking of current approaches to the management of international organizations.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
List of Tables	viii
Preface	ix
List of Abbreviations	xi
Introduction: Rethinking International Organizations	1	(26)
Dennis Dijkzeul
Yves Beigbeder
Part I Decision Making with States	27	(82)
Financing the United Nations: The Role of the United States	29	(25)
Klaus Hufner
Diplomacy: Its Place in the Multilateral World	54	(23)
Dietrich Kappeler
The Politics of Norm Setting at the United Nations: The Case of Sustainable Human Development	77	(32)
Jacques Fomerand
Part II Decision Making in International Organizations	109	(86)
Good Intentions to Naught: The Pathology of Human Resources Management at the United Nations	111	(29)
Dirk Salomons
The Transformation of International Public Organizations: The Case of UNCTAD	140	(26)
Matthias Finger
Berangere Magarinos-Ruchat
Fraud, Corruption, and United Nations Culture	166	(29)
Yves Beigbeder
PART III Implementation	195	(114)
Programs and the Problems of Participation	197	(37)
Dennis Dijkzeul
Human Rights, Institutional Wrongs	234	(27)
Alex de Waal
Managing CIVPOL: The Potential of Performance Management in International Public Services	261	(26)
Dennis Smith
Sustainable Civil Society or Service Delivery Agencies? The Evolution of Non-governmental Organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina	287	(22)
Ian Smillie
Kristie Evenson
PART IV Toward Theory	309	(28)
Cures and Conclusions	311	(26)
Dennis Dijkzeul
Leon Gordenker
Notes on Contributors	337	(4)
Authors Index	341	(3)
Keywords Index	344