Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:46:29.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inertia and change in the constellation of international governmental organizations, 1981–1992

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Cheryl Shanks ,
Harold K. Jacobson  and
Jeffrey H. Kaplan
Cheryl Shanks
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Political Science at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Harold K. Jacobson
Affiliation:
Jesse Siddal Reeves Professor Political Science and Primary Research Scientist, Center for Political Studies, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Jeffrey H. Kaplan
Affiliation:
Student at the George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C.
Get access

Abstract

Hardly anyone expects public institutions to die. Yet a census reveals that fully one-third of the international governmental organizations (IGOs) in existence in 1981 had in fact become defunct by 1992. Most Eastern bloc and many regional developing country organizations vanished or became inactive. During this period a slightly larger number of new organizations was born. Not governments but other IGOs spawned most of the new offspring. Wealthy democratic countries increased their IGO memberships while poor unstable countries increasingly dropped out. This bifurcation was accompanied by greater reliance by all on a set of core universal-membership institutions dominated by Western values. Functionalism, organizational ecology, and realism each partly help us to understand these trends but leave important dynamics unexplained.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1996 , pp. 593 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1996

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

Aldrich, Howard E. 1979. Organizations and environments. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Claude, Inis L. Jr, 1966. Collective legitimization as a political function of the United Nations. International Organization 20: 367–79.Google Scholar
Hannan, Michael T., and Freeman, John. 1989. Organizational ecology. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, Barry B. 1993. International futures. Boulder, Colo.: WestviewCited in Bruce Russett and Harvey Starr, World politics: The menu for choice, 5th ed. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1995.Google Scholar
Jacobson, Harold K., Reisinger, William, and Mathers, Todd. 1986. National entanglements in international governmental organizations. American Political Science Review 80:141–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karatnycky, Adrian. 1994. Freedom in retreat. Freedom Review 25(6): 4–9.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Herbert. 1976. Are government organizations immortal? Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After hegemony: Cooperation and discord in the world political economy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
March, James G., and Olsen, Johan P.. 1989. Rediscovering institutions: The organizationalbasis of politics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Mitrany, David. 1966. A working peace system. Chicago, III.: Quandrangle.Google Scholar
Ness, Gayl D., and Brechen, Steven R.. 1988. IOs as organizations. International Organization 42:245–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, Jeffrey. 1982. Organizations and organization theory. Boston: Pitman.Google Scholar
Russett, Bruce, and Starr, Harvey. 1985. World politics: The menu for choice. 2d ed.New York: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Scott, W. Richard. 1992. Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems. 3d. ed.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Union of International Associations. 1982. Yearbook of international organizations 1981. New York: K.G. Saur.Google Scholar
Union of International Associations 1993. Yearbook of international organizations 1992/93. Vol. 1. New York: K.G. Saur.Google Scholar
Wallace, Michael, and Singer, J.D.. 1970. Intergovernmental organization in the global system, 1816–1964: A quantitative description. International Organization 24:239–87.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and society. Vol. 2. Edited by Roth, Guenther and Wittich, Claus. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1982,1993, and 1994. World development report. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.Google Scholar