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Assessing intergovernmental impact: problems and prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1985

Karen Mingst  and
Michael G. Schechter
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Extract

Surprisingly little systematic research has been completed on evaluating the impact of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) at a time when participation in their activities has come under close scrutiny. Both theoretical weaknesses and methodological inadequacies plague researchers who are interested in the effects of outcomes on affected parties, be they intergovernmental organizations, governments or, ultimately, individuals. In this paper, we examine the problems confronting this type of research and assess the strategies so far employed to overcome some of these shortcomings. We shall also examine some approaches appropriate to generating hypotheses concerning IGO impact and propose a comprehensive framework suitable for further research.

Type
Research Note
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 1985 , pp. 199 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1985

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References

1. Good examples of previous discussions of the impact of intergovernmental organizations include: Jacobson, Harold K., Networks of Interdependence; International Organizations and the Global Political System, 2nd edn. (New York, 1984), pp. 171–86Google Scholar; Gordenker, Leon, ‘Multilateral Aid and Influence on Government Policies’, in Cox, Robert W. (ed.), International Organisation: World Politics. Studies in Economic and Social Agencies (London, 1969)Google Scholar; Schiff, Benjamin N., International Nuclear Technology Transfer. Dilemmas of Dissemination and Control (London, 1983)Google Scholar; Honeywell, Martin (ed.), The Poverty Brokers. The IMF and Latin America (London, 1983), especially pp. 49–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar and 85–108.

2. Harold K. Jacobson and David A. Kay, ‘The Environmental Protection Activities of International Organizations: An Appraisal and Some Suggestions’. Paper delivered at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 31 August-3 September 1979, p. 40. See also: Kay, David A. and Jacobson, Harold K. (eds), Environmental Protection; The International Dimension (Totowa, NJ, 1983), especially pp. 323–7.Google Scholar

3. Kay, David A., The Functioning and Effectiveness of Selected United Nations System Programs, The American Society of International Law Studies in Transnational Legal Policy No. 18 (St. Paul, 1980), p. 189Google Scholar.

4. Hoole, F. W., Evaluation Research and Development Activities (Beverly Hills, 1978), p. 21Google Scholar.

5. Sewell, James, UNESCO and World Politics. Engaging in International Relations (Princeton, NJ, 1979), p. 299Google Scholar.

6. Argyris, Chris, ‘Organizations: Effectiveness’, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, xi, 1968, pp. 311–12.Google Scholar

7. Weiss, Carol H., ‘Evaluation Research in a Political Context’, in Struening, Elmer L. and Guttentag, Marcia (eds), Handbook of Evaluation Research, vol. I (Beverly Hills, 1975), p. 18Google Scholar.

8. Lindberg, Leon N. and Scheingold, Stuart A., Europe's Would-Be Polity. Patterns of Change in the European Community (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1970), pp. 25–6.Google Scholar

9. Cox, Robert W. and Jacobson, Harold K., The Anatomy of Influence. Decision Making in International Organization (New Haven, 1973), p. 371.Google Scholar

10. McLin, Jon, ‘Surrogate International Organization and the Case of World Food Security, 1949–1969’, International Organization, xxx (Winter 1979), pp. 54–5Google Scholar and 57. See also, Miles, Edward, ‘Structure and Effects of the Decision-Process in the Seabed Committee and the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea’, International Organization, xxxi (1977)Google Scholar.

11. Karen A. Mingst, ‘Evaluating Organizational Impact Using Multiple Indicators: The ECSC and IDB Experiences’, Paper presented at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 31 August-3 September, Washington, DC, p. 2.

12. Karen A. Mingst, ‘Strategies for Evaluating Policy Effectiveness of Intergovernmental Organizations’, Paper presented at the 1978 Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, 20–22 April, Chicago.

13. Ibid., p. 9.

14. Norman A. Graham and Stephan M. Haggard, ‘The Impact of Ad Hoc Global Conferences: Evaluating Effects at the National and International Level’, Paper presented at the 1979 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 30 August-3 September, Washington, p. 14. See also: Graham, Norman A., Kaufman, Richard L., Oppenheimer, Michael F., The United States and Multilateral Diplomacy (New York, 1984).Google Scholar

15. See Francis W. Hoole, ‘Assessing the Impact of International Organizations: Problems, Prospects, Research Strategies’, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Toronto, 21–24 March 1979, pp. 2–6. See also: Mingst, Karen A., ‘Linkages Between International Organizations and Individuals: Three Cases’, International Interactions vi (1979), pp. 24–5.Google Scholar

16. Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S., Power and Interdependence. World Politics in Transition (Boston, 1977).Google Scholar

17. Lindberg and Scheingold, Europe's Would-Be Polity, op. cit., pp. 64–100.

18. Gordenker, Leon, International Aid and National Decisions. Development Programs in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia (Princeton, NJ, 1976)Google Scholar. See also: International Legal Center, The Impact of International Organizations on Legal and Institutional Change in the Developing Countries (New York, 1977)Google Scholar.

19. Schechter, Michael G., ‘The Impact of Intergovernmental Commodity Organizations on the Final Consumer’, International Interactions, vi (1979), pp. 73–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also: Schechter, Michael G., Assessing the Impact of Intergovernmental Economic Organizations: The Case of the World Bank and Nonformal Education, ERIC Document, ED 235 987, 3 April 1984.Google Scholar

20. See for example, DeVries, Margaret, The International Monetary Fund, 1966–1971: The System Under Stress (Washington, International Monetary Fund, 1976)Google Scholar; Nicholas, H. G., The United Nations as a Political Institution, 5th edn (London, 1975)Google Scholar; Daltrop, Anne, Politics and the European Community (Essex, 1982).Google Scholar

21. See Fisher, Bart S., The International Coffee Agreement. A Study in Coffee Diplomacy (New York, 1972)Google Scholar; Hoole, Francis W., Politics and Budgeting in the World Health Organization (Bloomington, 1976)Google Scholar; Mikdashi, Zuhayr, The Community of Oil Exporting Countries. A Study in Governmental Cooperation (Ithaca, New York, 1972).Google Scholar

22. Haas, Ernst B., Butterworth, Robert L., and Nye, Joseph S., Conflict Management by International Organizations (Morristown, 1972)Google Scholar. For example, see Wilkenfeld, Jonathan and Brecher, Michael, ‘International Crises 1945–1975: The UN Dimension’, International Studies Quarterly, xxviii (1984), pp. 45–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23. Haas, et al, Conflict Management by International Organizations, op. cit., p. 5.

24. See Kay, The Functioning and Effectiveness of Selected United Nations System Programs, op. cit.; Jacobson and Kay, ‘The Environmental Protection Activities of International Organizations’, op. cit.; Meltzer, Ronald I., ‘The Politics of Policy Reversal: The U.S. Response to Granting Trade Preferences to Developing Countries and Linkages Between International Organizations and National Policy Making’, International Organization, xxx (1976), pp. 649–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

25. Leive, David M., International Regulatory Regimes. Case Studies in Health, Meteorology, and Food, vols. I, II (Lexington, Mass., 1976)Google Scholar.

26. Mingst, Karen A. and Stauffer, Robert E., ‘Intervention Analysis of Political Disturbances, Market Shocks, and Policy Initiatives in International Commodity Markets’, International Organization, xxxiii (1978-1979), pp. 105–18.Google Scholar

27. For more information, see Guttentag, M., ‘Subjectivity and Its Use in Evaluating Research’, Evaluation, i (1973), pp. 60–5Google Scholar; Raiffa, H., Decision Analysis. Introductory Lectures on Choice Under Uncertainty (Reading, Mass., 1968).Google Scholar

28. For methodological strategies, see Hoole, Francis W., ‘Evaluating the Impacts of International Organizations’, International Organization, xxxiii (1977), pp. 541–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar