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: almost 40% of the international organisations created since 1815 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

Laura von Allwörden (2023). When contestation legitimizes: The norm of climate change action and the US contesting the Paris Agreement. International Relations, forthcoming.

Leonard Schuette and Hylke Dijkstra (2023). When an International Organisation fails to Legitimate: The Decline of the OSCE. Global Studies Quarterly, forthcoming.

Leonard Schuette (2023). Survival Politics: International organisations amid the crisis of multilateralism. Journal of European Public Policy, forthcoming.

Hylke Dijkstra, Maria Debre and Tim Heinkelmann-Wild (2023). Governance abhors a vacuum: The afterlives of major international organizations. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, forthcoming.

Giuseppe Zaccaria (2023). Using crisis as opportunity: The role of the AIIB’s leadership in its strategic adaptation to the COVID-19 crisis. The Pacific Review, advance online publication.

Maria Debre and Hylke Dijkstra (2023). Are International Organizations in Decline? An Absolute and Relative Perspective on Institutional Change. Global Policy, 14(1), 16-30.

Recent working papers

Hylke Dijkstra and Farsan Ghassim (2022). Authoritative international organizations are not challenged more: A recurrent event analysis of state critique and withdrawals. APSA Conference, September.