Welcome

International organisations are currently under pressure. The World Health Organization was heavily criticized over its handling of COVID. The World Trade Organization seemed incapable of mitigating an American-Chinese trade war. The United States quit UNESCO in 2018 and The United Kingdom the EU in 2020. The ultimate way for states to show that international organisations have outlived their purpose is to disband them. This happens frequently: no less than a third of the international organisations created between 1905 and 2005 have formally ceased to exist.

This large research project seeks to complete the theory on the ‘life and death of international organisations’. We know how international organisations are designed and develop over time. Yet we know virtually nothing about decline and death. The project therefore addresses the question why do international organisations decline or die? The main hypothesis is that some international organisations live longer due to their institutional characteristics. Through a mixed-methods research approach, this project aims to develop an institutional theory on the final stage in the life of international organisations.

Forthcoming and new articles

Maria Debre and Hylke Dijkstra (2021). COVID-19 and Policy Responses by International Organizations: Crisis of Liberal International Order or Window of Opportunity? Global Policy, forthcoming.

Leonard Schuette (2021). Forging Unity: European Commission Leadership in the Brexit Negotiations. Journal of Common Market Studies, advance online publication.

Maria Debre and Hylke Dijkstra (2021). Institutional design for a post-liberal order: Why some international organizations live longer than others. European Journal of International Relations, 27(1), 311-339.

Recent working papers

Hylke Dijkstra, Laura von Allwoerden, Leonard Schuette and Giuseppe Zaccaria (2021). Donald Trump and the survival strategies of international organizations: When can institutional actors counter existential challenges? Final Conference of the DFG Research Group on International Public Administration. 18-19 March 2021.

Laura von Allwoerden (2021). Counter-effect of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: Manifesting the UNFCCC’s legitimacy. ECPR Joint Sessions, 17-28 May.

Giuseppe Zaccaria (2021). International bureaucracies, institutional leadership, and the crises of the global order: The case of the WTO. ECPR Joint Sessions, 17-28 May.

Maria Debre and Hylke Dijkstra (2021). Conceptualizing and Operationalizing the Decline of International Organizations: Toward a Relative View of Institutional Change. ECPR Joint Sessions, 17-28 May.

Leonard Schuette (2021). International organisations and the dilemma of hegemonic contestation: NATO’s strategic responses to Trump. BISA European Security Workshop, 18 February.

Hylke Dijkstra and Maria Debre (2020). The death of 21 major international organizations: When institutional stickiness is not enough. NestIOr Working Paper, 22 June 2020.