Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T20:18:37.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Historical Institutionalism Meets Practice Theory: Renewing the Selection Process of the United Nations Secretary-General

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2020

Vincent Pouliot Open the ORCID record for Vincent Pouliot [Opens in a new window]
Get access

Abstract

The selection process leading to the appointment of Antonio Guterres as Secretary-General of the United Nations gave way to unprecedented practices in world politics, such as public hearings with candidates. A textbook case of what historical institutionalism calls “layering,” this episode of institutional development features intriguing puzzles, including its timing, form, and limits. Drawing on historical institutionalism and practice theory, I develop a “pulling” theory of agency that complements intentionalist accounts. The webs of practices that agents find themselves in afford certain actions over others, orienting the push of interests. I infer three mechanisms—relational crossover, competence transfers, and pushback—and show how a set of nine practices, available at the UN in 2015–2016 but not in earlier episodes, account for the specifics of the recent renewal of the Secretary-General's selection procedure. A full explanation of this critical case of institutional change is impossible without understanding how agents struggled with one another under the pull of the UN web of practices, affording some innovations but not others.

Keywords

United Nationsinstitutional changeagencypractice theoryhistorical institutionalism
Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , Fall 2020 , pp. 742 - 772
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2020

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.)

References

Adler, Emanuel. 2019. World Ordering: A Social Theory of Cognitive Evolution. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, Emanuel, and Pouliot, Vincent. 2011. International Practices. International Theory 3 (1):1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler-Nissen, Rebecca, and Drieschova, Alena. 2019. Track-Change Diplomacy: Technology, Affordances, and the Practice of International Negotiations. International Studies Quarterly 63 (3):531–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Steven, and Hamish, van der Ven. 2017. Best Practices in Global Governance. Review of International Studies 43 (3):534–56.Google Scholar
Bueger, Christian, and Gadinger, Frank. 2014. International Practice Theory: New Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Campbell, John L. 2004. Institutional Change and Globalization. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Capoccia, Giovanni. 2016. When Do Institutions “Bite”? Historical Institutionalism and the Politics of Institutional Change. Comparative Political Studies 49 (8):1095–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, Simon. 2007. Introduction: Secretary or General? In Secretary or General? The UN Secretary-General in World Politics, edited by Chesterman, Simon, 1–11. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornut, Jérémie. 2018. Diplomacy, Agency and the Logic of Improvisation and Virtuosity in Practice. European Journal of International Relations 24 (3):712–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, Henry, and Finnemore, Martha. 2017. Global Institutions Without a Global State. In International Politics and Institutions in Time, edited by Fioretos, Orfeo, 144–63. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fioretos, Orfeo. 2011. Historical Institutionalism in International Relations. International Organization 65 (1):367–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fioretos, Orfeo. 2017. Institutions and Time in International Relations. In International Politics and Institutions in Time, edited by Fioretos, Orfeo, 3–36. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fligstein, Neil. 2001. Social Skill and the Theory of Fields. Sociological Theory 19 (2):105–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, James J. 1979. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Goddard, Stacie E., MacDonald, Paul K., and Nexon, Daniel H.. 2019. Repertoires of Statecraft: Instruments and Logics of Power Politics. International Relations 33 (2):304–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanrieder, Tine. 2015. International Organization in Time: Fragmentation and Reform. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Lene. 2011. Performing Practices: A Poststructuralist Analysis of the Muhammad Cartoon Crisis. In International Practices, edited by Adler, Emanuel and Pouliot, Vincent, 280–309. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmke, Gretchen, and Levitsky, Steven. 2004. Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda. Perspectives on Politics 2 (4):725–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm, Mette, and Lykketoft, Mogens. 2016. Serving the World: Fifteen Months for the UN. Rosinante.Google Scholar
Hopf, Ted. 2018. Change in International Practices. European Journal of International Relations 24 (3):687–711.Google Scholar
Ikenberry, G. John. 2001. After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars. Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Patrick Thaddeus. 2011. The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations. Routledge.Google Scholar
Jupille, Joseph, Mattli, Walter, and Snidal, Duncan. 2013. Institutional Choice and Global Commerce. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalyanpur, Nikhil, and Newman, Abraham. 2017. Form Over Function in Finance: International Institutional Design by Bricolage. Review of International Political Economy 24 (3):363–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, Colin. 2007. Selecting the World's Diplomat. In Secretary or General? The UN Secretary-General in World Politics, edited by Chesterman, Simon, 47–66. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 2017. Observations on the Promise and Pitfalls of Historical Institutionalism in International Relations. In International Politics and Institutions in Time, edited by Fioretos, Orfeo, 321–35. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, Jack. 1992. Institutions and Social Conflict. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James, and Thelen, Kathleen. 2010. A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. In Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power, edited by Mahoney, James and Thelen, Kathleen, 1–37. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moschella, Manuela, and Tsingou, Eleni. 2013. The Financial Crisis and the Politics of Reform: Explaining Incremental Change. In Great Expectations, Slow Transformations: Incremental Change in Post-Crisis Regulation, edited by Moschella, Manuela and Tsingou, Eleni, 1–33. ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Neumann, Iver B. 2002. Returning Practice to the Linguistic Turn: The Case of Diplomacy. Millennium 31 (3):627–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nexon, Daniel. 2012. Historical Institutionalism and International Relations. e-International Relations, 16 April. Available at <https://www.e-ir.info/2012/04/16/historical-institutionalism-and-international-relations > .+.>Google Scholar
North, Douglas. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 1996. The Path to European Integration: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis. Comparative Political Studies 29 (2):123–63.Google Scholar
Pierson, Paul, and Skocpol, Theda. 2002. Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science. In Political Science: The State of the Discipline III, edited by Katznelson, Ira and Milner, Helen, 693–721. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent. 2008. The Logic of Practicality: A Theory of Practice of Security Communities. International Organization 62 (2):257–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent. 2014. Practice Tracing. In Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool, edited by Bennett, Andrew and Checkel, Jeffrey T., 237–59. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent. 2016. International Pecking Orders: The Politics and Practice of Multilateral Diplomacy. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouliot, Vincent, and Thérien, Jean-Philippe. 2015. The Politics of Inclusion: Changing Patterns in the Governance of International Security. Review of International Studies 41 (2):211–37.Google Scholar
Prantl, Jochen. 2006. The UN Security Council and Informal Groups of States: Complementing or Competing for Global Governance? Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivlin, Benjamin. 1993. The Changing International Political Climate and the Secretary-General. In The Challenging Role of the UN Secretary-General: Making “The Most Impossible Job in the World” Possible, edited by Rivlin, Benjamin and Gordenker, Leon, 3–21. Praeger.Google Scholar
Rixen, Thomas, and Viola, Lora Anne. 2016. Historical Institutionalism and International Relations: Towards Explaining Change and Stability in International Institutions. In Historical Institutionalism and International Relations: Explaining Institutional Development in World Politics, edited by Rixen, Thomas, Viola, Lora Anne, and Zürn, Michael, 3–34. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ryle, Gilbert. 1984. The Concept of Mind. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sandholtz, Wayne. 2008. Dynamics of International Norm Change: Rules Against Wartime Plunder. European Journal of International Relations 14 (1):101–31.Google Scholar
Schindler, Sebastian, and Wille, Tobias. 2015. Change in and Through Practice: Pierre Bourdieu, Vincent Pouliot, and the End of the Cold War. International Theory 7 (2):330–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, John. 1995. The Construction of Social Reality. Free Press.Google Scholar
Security Council Report [SCR]. 2015. Appointing the UN Secretary-General. Research Report 2, 16 October.Google Scholar
SCR. 2016. Appointing the UN Secretary-General: The Challenge for the Security Council. Research Report 4, 30 June.Google Scholar
SCR. 2017. The UN Secretary-General Selection and Appointment Process: Emerging from the Shadows. Research Report 3, 4 April.Google Scholar
Terlingen, Yvonne. 2017. A Better Process, a Stronger UN Secretary-General: How Historic Change Was Forged and What Comes Next. Ethics and International Affairs 31 (2):115–27.Google Scholar
Thakur, Ramesh. 2017. Choosing the Ninth United Nations Secretary-General: Looking Back, Looking Ahead. Global Governance 23 (1):1–13.Google Scholar
Thérien, Jean-Philippe, and Pouliot, Vincent. 2020. Global Governance as Patchwork: The Making of the Sustainable Development Goals. Review of International Political Economy 27 (3):612–36.Google Scholar
Tordjman, Simon, and Devin, Guillaume. 2015. Les bonnes pratiques. Vecteurs de changement au sein des organisations internationales. In Les bonnes pratiques des organisations internationales, edited by Klein, Asmara, Laporte, Camille, and Saiget, Marie, 41–59. Presses de Sciences Po.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1991. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. Edited by Gerth, H.H. and Wright Mills, C.. Routledge.Google Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 2001. Driving With the Rearview Mirror: On the Rational Science of Institutional Design. International Organization 55 (4):1019–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wiseman, Geoffrey. 2015. Diplomatic Practices at the United Nations. Cooperation and Conflict 50 (3):316–33.Google Scholar
Zürn, Michael. 2016. Historical Institutionalism and International Relations—Strange Bedfellows? In Historical Institutionalism and International Relations: Explaining Institutional Development in World Politics, edited by Rixen, Thomas, Viola, Lora Anne, and Zürn, Michael, 199–228. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar