International Organisations as Norm-Setters in Global Development Governance

Abstract

International Organizations distribute official development assistance (ODA) as actors of development governance. We find a multitude of organizations on different levels that carry different ideas, interests, goals and norms with regard to development and its implementation. This organizational jungle can be traced back to a non-linear evolution accumulating throughout different decades and world regions. Development actors at the state, regional, and international level act within a heterachical multi-level order, i.e. competing with each other in development and transitional countries. The structures governing the distribution of ODA, however, have been recently changed in order to design the process of aid distribution more effectively. Reforms seek to create a coordination of development cooperation through an ongoing legalization of procedures and structures. Prominent example of this process is the Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness (2005) and its follow up documents. This panel seeks to take a closer look at the ongoing legalization and norm-distribution with a view to the role of international organizations such as the OECD, the UN or the World Bank. Understood as autonomous political and legal subjects, international organizations are increasingly able to exercise public authority by influencing these current processes taking place within international development governance. Drawing on insights from international relations and international legal scholarship, this panel will illuminate the unique role international organizations play within the emergence of a normative structure governing the distribution of ODA. The papers will elaborate on various theoretical concepts regarding the norm-setting power of international organizations examining how the influence of international organizations can be understood theoretically and applied to practice.

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