21st Century International Organisation: Who Designs and Who Decides?

Abstract

The extent to which the independence of international organizations (IOs) and their bureaucracies is constrained by the national interests of member states is a central topic in international relations. To considerable degree, this debate has focused on a principal-agent relationship between states and IOs, where states design institutions and delegate authority to them. There is, however, an emerging literature that seeks to broaden this scholarship to include both non-traditional channels of delegation—such as through other agencies—and the role of informal power within IOs and the actors who wield it. This panel invites papers exploring issues of design and decision making through a variety of methodological and conceptual approaches.