Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-gtgcz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-18T23:30:58.341Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beyond Institutional Design: Explaining the Performance of International Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2017

Ranjit Lall
Get access

Abstract

International organizations (IOs) have long been a central focus of scholarship in international relations, yet we know remarkably little about their performance. This article offers an explanation for differences in the performance of IOs and tests it using the first quantitative data set on the topic. I argue that the primary obstacle to effective institutional performance is not deviant behavior by IO officials—as conventional “rogue-agency” analyses suggest—but the propensity of states to use IOs to promote narrow national interests rather than broader organizational objectives. IOs that enjoy policy autonomy vis-à-vis states will thus exhibit higher levels of performance. However, in the international context policy autonomy cannot be guaranteed by institutional design. Instead, it is a function of (1) the existence of (certain types of) institutionalized alliances between IOs and actors above and below the state; and (2) the technical complexity of IO activities. I provide empirical evidence for the argument by constructing and analyzing a cross-sectional data set on IO performance—based in part on a new wave of official government evaluations of IOs and in part on an original survey of IO staff—and conducting a comparative case study in the realm of global food security.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , Spring 2017 , pp. 245 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 1998. Why States Act Through Formal International Organizations. Journal of Conflict Resolution 42 (1):3–32.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 2000. Hard and Soft Law in International Governance. International Organization 54 (3):421–56.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard, eds. 2015. International Organizations as Orchestrators. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Baqir, Reza, and Easterly, William. 1999. Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114 (4):1243–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, Rhys, Boyne, George A., Law, Jennifer, and Walker, Richard M.. 2005. External Constraints on Local Service Standards: The Case of Comprehensive Performance Assessment in English Local Government. Public Administration 83 (3):639–56.Google Scholar
Ascher, William. 1983. New Development Approaches and the Adaptability of International Agencies: The Case of the World Bank. International Organization 37 (3):415–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Agency for International Development. 2012. Australian Multilateral Assessment. Canberra, Australia. Available at <http://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Pages/australian-multilateral-assessment-ama-full-report.aspx>. Accessed 18 August 2015..+Accessed+18+August+2015.>Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael N. 1997. The UN Security Council, Indifference, and Genocide in Rwanda. Cultural Anthropology 12 (4):551–78.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael N., and Finnemore, Martha. 1999. The Politics, Power, and Pathologies of International Organizations. International Organization 53 (4):699–732.Google Scholar
Barrett, Christopher B., and Heisey, Kevin C.. 2002. How Effectively Does Multilateral Food Aid Respond to Fluctuating Needs? Food Policy 27 (5):477–91.Google Scholar
Barrett, Christopher B., and Maxwell, Daniel G.. 2005. Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role. Oxford, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Boyne, George A. 2002. Concepts and Indicators of Local Authority Performance: An Evaluation of the Statutory Frameworks in England and Wales. Public Money and Management 22 (2):17–24.Google Scholar
Boyne, George A., Meier, Kenneth J., O'Toole, Laurence J. Jr. and Walker, Richard M. eds. 2006. Public Service Performance: Perspectives on Measurement and Management. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, Allen, and Keohane, Robert O.. 2006. The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions. Ethics and International Affairs 20 (4):405–37.Google Scholar
Cameron, Kim S. 1978. Measuring Organizational Effectiveness in Institutions of Higher Education. Administrative Science Quarterly 23 (4):604–32.Google Scholar
Cusack, Thomas R. 1999. Social Capital, Institutional Structures, and Democratic Performance: A Comparative Study of German Local Governments. European Journal of Political Research 35 (1):1–34.Google Scholar
Department for International Development (United Kingdom). 2011. Multilateral Aid Review: Ensuring Maximum Value for Money for UK Aid through Multilateral Organisations. London, UK. <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multilateral-aid-review>. Accessed 20 May 2013..+Accessed+20+May+2013.>Google Scholar
Dreher, Axel, and Vaubel, Roland. 2004. The Causes and Consequences of IMF Conditionality. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade 40 (3):26–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterly, William, and Williamson, Claudia R.. 2011. Rhetoric Versus Reality: The Best and Worst of Aid Agency Practices. World Development 39 (11):1930–49.Google Scholar
Etzioni, A. 1964. Modern Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hill.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization. 2007. Report of the Independent External Evaluation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Conference document C 2007/7A.1-Rev.1, 34th Session. Rome, Italy. Available at <ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/meeting/012/k0827erev1.pdf>. Accessed 14 November 2016..+Accessed+14+November+2016.>Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization. 2011. Basic Texts of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2011 Edition). Available at <http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/022/k8024e.pdf>. Accessed 14 January 2016..+Accessed+14+January+2016.>Google Scholar
Gutner, Tamar, and Thompson, Alexander. 2010. The Politics of IO Performance: A Framework. The Review of International Organizations 5 (3):227–48.Google Scholar
Haftel, Yoram Z., and Thompson, Alexander. 2006. The Independence of International Organizations Concept and Applications. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (2):253–75.Google Scholar
Hawkins, Darren G., Lake, David A., Nielson, Daniel L., and Tierney, Michael J. eds. 2006. Delegation and Agency in International Organizations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Liesbet, Marks, Gary, Lenz, Tobias, Bezuijen, Jeanine, Ceka, Besir, and Derderyan, Svet. 2017. Measuring International Authority: A Postfunctionalist Theory of Governance. Volume 3. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, Raymond F. 1992. Reform in the International Food Aid Regime: The Role of Consensual Knowledge. International Organization 46 (1):225–64.Google Scholar
International Labour Organization. 2000. Possible Improvements in the Standard-setting Activities of the ILO, Addendum: Statistics on the Ratification of Conventions. Governing Body Document GB.277.LILS/2(Add.1), 277th Session. Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Johnson, Tana. 2014. Organizational Progeny: Why Governments Are Losing Control over the Proliferating Structures of Global Governance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, Peter J., Keohane, Robert O., and Krasner, Stephen D.. 1998. International Organization and the Study of World Politics. International Organization 52 (4):645–85.Google Scholar
Knack, Stephen. 2002. Social Capital and the Quality of Government: Evidence from the States. American Journal of Political Science 46 (4):772–85.Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan. 2001. The Rational Design of International Institutions. International Organization 55 (4):761–99.Google Scholar
Porta, La, Rafael, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, Andrei, and Vishny, Robert. 1999. The Quality of Government. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15 (1):222–79.Google Scholar
Mathiason, John. 2007. Invisible Governance: International Secretariats in Global Politics. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Mattli, Walter, and Seddon, Jack. 2015. Orchestration Along the Pareto Frontier: Winners and Losers. In International Organizations as Orchestrators, edited by Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard, 315–48. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Gary J., and Andrew B., Whitford. 2016. Above Politics: Bureaucratic Discretion and Credible Commitment. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark). 2012. Denmark's Engagement in Multilateral Development and Humanitarian Organizations. Copenhagen. Available at <http://um.dk/~/media/UM/Danish-site/Documents/Udenrigspolitik/Nyheder_udenrigspolitik/2012/120709%20Multilateral%20Analysis%202012%20-%20English%20Version.pdf>. Accessed 15 October 2013.. Accessed 15 October 2013.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Ministry+of+Foreign+Affairs+(Denmark).+2012.+Denmark's+Engagement+in+Multilateral+Development+and+Humanitarian+Organizations.+Copenhagen.+Available+at+.+Accessed+15+October+2013.>Google Scholar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands). 2013. Scorecards of International Institutions. Available at <http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/rapporten/2013/08/30/scorecards-van-internationale-instellingen.html>. Accessed 15 October 2013..+Accessed+15+October+2013.>Google Scholar
Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Sweden). 2013. Swedish Assessment of Multilateral Organizations. Available at <http://www.regeringen.se>. Accessed 15 October 2013..+Accessed+15+October+2013.>Google Scholar
Moe, Terry M. 1990. The Politics of Structural Choice: Toward a Theory of Public Bureaucracy. In Organization Theory: From Chester Barnard to the Present and Beyond, edited by Williamson, Oliver E., 116–53. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Neumayer, Eric. 2005. Is the Allocation of Food Aid Free from Donor Interest Bias? The Journal of Development Studies 41 (3):394–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pevehouse, Jon, Nordstrom, Timothy, and Warnke, Kevin. 2004. The Correlates of War 2 International Governmental Organizations Data Version 2.0. Conflict Management and Peace Science 21 (2):101–19.Google Scholar
Price, James L. 1972. The Study of Organizational Effectiveness. The Sociological Quarterly 13 (1):3–15.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Quinn, Robert E., and Rohrbaugh, John. 1981. A Competing Values Approach to Organizational Effectiveness. Public Productivity Review 5 (2):122–40.Google Scholar
Rogoff, Kenneth. 1985. The Optimal Degree of Commitment to an Intermediate Monetary Target. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 100 (4):1169–89.Google Scholar
Stone, Randall W. 2011. Controlling Institutions: International Organizations and the Global Economy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Union of International Associations. 2015. Yearbook of International Organizations 2015–2016. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. Available at <http://www.uia.org/yearbook>. Accessed 8 October 2015..+Accessed+8+October+2015.>Google Scholar
Vaubel, Roland. 1986. A Public Choice Approach to International Organization. Public Choice 51 (1):39–57.Google Scholar
World Food Programme. 2010. General Regulations, General Rules, Financial Regulations, Rules of Procedure of the Executive Board (November 2010 Edition). Available at <http://www.wfp.org/about/general-regulations>. Accessed 10 June 2014..+Accessed+10+June+2014.>Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Lall supplementary material S1

Lall supplementary material

Download Lall supplementary material S1(File)
File 47.3 KB
Supplementary material: File

Lall supplementary material S2

Appendix

Download Lall supplementary material S2(File)
File 891.4 KB
Supplementary material: File

Lall supplementary material S3

Lall supplementary material

Download Lall supplementary material S3(File)
File 27.4 KB