The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations' Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997-2015
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11230%2F21%3A10425403" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11230/21:10425403 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=dwvdsRjCs-" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=dwvdsRjCs-</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqaa088" target="_blank" >10.1093/isq/sqaa088</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations' Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997-2015
Original language description
Although international organizations (IOs) and their secretariats play important roles in international politics, we know surprisingly little about their staffing composition and the factors that shape it. What accounts for the national composition of the secretariats of IOs? We theorize that the national composition of international secretariats is shaped by three factors: the desire by powerful states for institutional control, a commonly shared interest in a secretariat's functional effectiveness, and, increasingly, a need for secretariats to be seen as legitimate by being representative of the global population. Building on recent constructivist literature, we argue that IOs face increasing normative pressure to be representative in their staffing patterns. Using panel regression, we assess our argument with a new dataset covering states' representation in the secretariats of thirty-five United Nations system bodies from 1997 to 2015. The results indicate that while functional effectiveness plays a significant and stable role, international secretariats have become increasingly representative of the global population. Moreover, this has come primarily at the expense of the over-representation of powerful states. This shift from power to representation is particularly strong in large IOs with high political and societal visibility. When it comes to IO secretariats, representativeness (increasingly) matters.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
50601 - Political science
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA17-10543S" target="_blank" >GA17-10543S: Global bureaucracy: The politics of international organizations staffing</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
International Studies Quarterly
ISSN
0020-8833
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
65
Issue of the periodical within the volume
1
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
13
Pages from-to
197-209
UT code for WoS article
000637287200016
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85104935952