Bureaucratic Autonomy in International Organizations

Abstract

The panel aims to bring together scholars from different academic backgrounds who share a common interest in the empirical study of bureaucratic autonomy of public organizations. Against the backdrop of a common conceptual interest, we invite papers with an empirical focus on international organizations (IGOs), international public administrations (i.e., IGO secretariats) as well as executive and regulatory agencies. The panel addresses two interrelated questions: How can autonomy be conceptualized and empirically studied across organizations and over time? What are the consequences of differences in autonomy for the policy-making capacities of public organizations? The panel is based on the observation that questions of organizational autonomy that have been raised in different (rather isolated) strands of research have converged in recent years and thus deserve more interdisciplinary exchange and dialogue. As a consequence of such an observable shift in focus toward the administrative basis of IGOs, the debates become increasingly compatible with questions raised in the context of Public Administration scholarship and agency research more specifically. Against the background of these developments, the panel aims to provide a platform where scholars can discuss and exchange their conceptualizations and empirical applications in order to enhance our understanding of autonomy and its consequences for the policy-making capacities of public organizations.

Title	Details
Autonomy and Styles of International Public Administrations: Exploring the Relationship between Formal Structures and Behavioural Routines	View Paper Details
Interest groups and the autonomy of regulatory networks	View Paper Details
The differential effects of organizational characteristics and politico-administrative context on agency autonomy: investigating differences between and within country clusters	View Paper Details
Studying the autonomy of international secretariats across cases and over time	View Paper Details
Staff, Status and Autonomy in International Organizations	View Paper Details
International Secretariats and their Executive Heads	View Paper Details