Acknowledgements

This volume is born out of the PRIVIGO project, ‘International Organizations between Mission and Market’, generously sponsored by the European Research Council under Grant no. 883417. Most of the papers (with one exception) were first presented at a workshop organized in Helsinki in November 2021, when the world was still somewhat concerned with the outbreak of COVID-19. Travel was possible again, and most of the participants were able to attend in person – quite a relief after the period of lockdowns and restrictions.

I am indebted to Anna van der Velde, at the time the project planner at the Erik Castrén Institute where PRIVIGO is located, and Hannah Ouahmane, then the project’s research assistant, for their help in organizing the workshop and their smooth handling of all sorts of practical issues. Beyond this, I am grateful to all participants (also those who ended up not writing a chapter) not only for their intellectual input but also for their patience. This has been a slow process but, it is hoped, eventually a fruitful one. And, as for patience, an enormous ‘thank you’ also to Marianne Nield and Natasha Burton at Cambridge University Press, who supported this project beyond the call of duty. This volume is dedicated to my children, Johan and Gilda.