Yellow banner with pen and letters

Authors: Petru Dumitriu European UnionInternational Labour OrganizationUnited NationsWorld BankWorld Trade Organization

Democratic Intergovernmental Organizations? Normative Pressures and Decision-Making Rules

2015

At first sight, the very choice of the title of this book may indicate that the author, Alexandru Grigorescu, was not sure about the existence of such thing. Indeed, to be or not to be democratic is not a top concern on the internal agenda of international organizations. Therefore, Grigorescu’s fresh endeavour to find an answer to such a purposeful question is ab initio a praiseworthy academic démarche.
61r3mx8zvXL.jpg
Grigorescu goes well beyond appearances and headlines. He proceeds to a Cartesian and rigorous analysis in a manner Descartes himself would be proud of.  First, he builds his case on a right choice of criteria for assessment, based on a suitable analogy with democracy within states:  (i) fair representation in decision-making; (ii) fair voting; (iii) participation of representatives from civil society in decision-making and in the implementation of decisions; (iv) parliamentary oversight of the executive; and (v) public access to information. This axis of good is well accompanied in Grigorescu’s model by a thoughtful pick of international organizations under scrutiny: the League of Nations, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization. Together they make a fine sample of diversity in mandates, institutional structures, and distribution of power. With these powerful tools in hand the author performs a step-by-step overview of the democratic mechanisms as they exist in practice or in the constitutions of the selected intergovernmental organizations. In other words, Grigorescu engages the reader in a demanding but rewarding effort to lighten the dark under the lamp: to what extent is democracy practiced by those who preach it? Is there any trend in the evolution of intergovernmental organizations, from the visionary experiment of the League of Nations to the supranational impulse of the European Union, passing by the tripartite configuration of decision-making in the International Labour Organization? Analyze that! The method chosen by the author being quite clever, the results are not less. The algorithm works impeccably. Grigorescu leaves no initial question without response. He starts with an elaborate introduction entitled – with useful caution and inverted comas – “Democratic” Intergovernmental Organizations. Further on, each chapter dealing with the five criteria / norms listed above (chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) takes a measure on how the democratic norms come to shape decision-making in intergovernmental organizations. The quantitative analyses are doubled by a historical perspective on the application of norms. The author was visibly aware that the enunciation of norms and their introduction in the constitutions of intergovernmental organizations is not self-explanatory of actual practices. To fix the settings, Grigorescu adds to his toolbox a subtle analysis of normative pressures and strategies to defuse them. This brings the reader to a picture that is closer to a heterogeneous reality, allowing interesting conclusions. I have no intention of depriving you of the pleasure of arriving at such conclusions. Nonetheless, I cannot resist the temptation to whet your appetite. Here are some examples. Challenge them if you can! The great amount of power controlled by the P5 in 1945 does not explain why they allowed six non-permanent members in the United Nations Security Council. Because they held a greater proportion of the world’s power than the League, the P5 could have established even more control over the United Nations Security Council than they had over the League Council. (Fair State Participation, pp. 87-88) The multiple cases of simultaneous change in voting rules and in the European Parliament’s power within the European Economic Community and European Union could not be explained without taking into account the normative pressures and the efforts to defuse them. (Fair Voting, p.129) … of all great powers it was the United States, a country with one of the oldest traditions of transparency, not the United Kingdom (with a long tradition of secrecy), that spearheaded such reforms in the World Bank and even in the World Trade Organisation. (Transparency, p. 176) Lastly, the UN member-states also challenged the pro-NGO norm by emphasizing that many NGOs were not representative entities and, therefore, their presence in an intergovernmental organization was not reflective of democracy. (Participation of Nongovernmental Actors, p. 218) The parliamentary oversight norm was very strong among members at the establishment of the Council of Europe and the European Coal and Steel Community. [….] The fact that parliamentary bodies have spread to other intergovernmental organizations in other regions of the world, once their member states became more democratic, further supports the argument that norms have played an essential part in this particular institutional development. (Transnational Parliamentary Oversight, p. 262) From algorithm to poetry As there is no formal prohibition of quoting poetry in reviewing political sciences’ books, let me relay for my pleasure, and hopefully yours, some of the most quoted verses of T.S. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. (T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, section V) Grigorescu has indeed taken the reader on a useful journey and a minute inspection of the grounds of democracy in intergovernmental organizations. At the very end of his exploration, he comes to a somewhat surprising, but yet wise and prudent retrospective conclusion: ‘… looking back over the past two centuries, as global democratic norms have become more powerful, the general direction of the messy trends in intergovernmental organizations appears to be the same one as in the domestic realm and in all other levels of human interaction’ (p. 281). In other words, we are back to square one, democracy in member states, i.e., places where the concept and practice of intergovernmental organizations were born. Questions in the making I will not question this conclusion, although the author has brought so much light under the lamp and has gauged pretty clearly the ‘messy trends’. After all, we can interpret his last lines as a light prediction: he who keeps an eye on the course of democratization processes everywhere may anticipate the future of democracy in international organizations. The author’s modesty may explain the existence of the interrogation in the title of the book. The presence of the question mark at the beginning of the study was understandable. Its persistence at the end of the research is a promise of more. That gives me the liberty to place new question marks on what I infer may be relevant in future research: Do we really need more democracy in intergovernmental organizations? Do we not risk defusing the power in a manner that can be detrimental to the capacity of international organizations to act swiftly and efficiently when needed? Is the analogy with national democratic mechanisms right? Are we dealing with the same measure of representativeness and with similar leverage in the exercise of power? Does it make sense to design a universal Parliament? To what extent do the existing assemblies of the parliamentarians across boundaries really serve measurable purposes? Should we continue to empower and legitimize the involvement of mushrooming crowds of non-governmental organizations of all horizons and origins in decision-making in intergovernmental organizations? If so, are we making the world more orderly and governments more accountable, or are we just transforming the international agenda into a global talk-show leaving little room for action? Grigorescu’s tome is as scientific as political sciences can be. We, the ‘practitioners’, hope to see him continue to navigate the unchartered waters of democracy, as practiced inside intergovernmental organizations, with the same compass of high precision. I trust he can go deeper and farther under the same auspicious question mark.
Review by Petru Dumitriu

You may also be interested in

978-1-4614-5401-4.jpg

Global health diplomacy: How foreign policy can influence health

Ilona Kickbusch argues that public health experts need to work with diplomats in order to achieve global health goals.

download-3.jpg

Global Health and Foreign Policy

Non-Aligned-Movement-from-Belgrade-1989-to-Baku-2019-Amr-Aljowaily-_0.png

The ‘Working’ Non-Aligned Movement: Between Belgrade, Cairo, and Baku – The NAM’s Leadership Visibility

The objective of this chapter is to highlight lessons learned, promote best practices, and carry takeaways that are useful for other levels of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), or even other forums.

MOD_DIP.png

Diplomacy as an instrument of good governance

The functioning of diplomacy is influenced by a complicated combination of different interrelated factors. This paper briefly analyses their impact on the evolution of diplomacy and discusses how diplomacy as an instrument of good governance should adjust itself to meet the new challenges, to become more relevant, open and agile, to modify its methods and to fully utilise opportunities offered by the technological revolution.

Summitry as intercultural communication

In one of his last essays before his premature death in 1972, Martin Wight described international conferences as ‘the set pieces punctuating the history of the European states-system, moments of maximum communication’.

download-3.gif

Humanitarian intervention and international society

Richard-L.-Bernal.jpg

Small developing economies and the multilateral trading system: A Caribbean perspective

Small developing economies are often constrained in participating in the negotiation and regulation of multilateral trading rules due to severe cost and resource limitations. This article argues that, despite the costs and difficulties, small states must remain engaged in the multilateral trading system in order to ensure that their specialised commercial interests are recognised and to protect their rights. Umbrella entities like the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) provide a means of maximising the influence of small states in an international forum such as the World Tra...

Ten-theoretical-clues-to-understanding-United-Nations-reform-Briefing-Paper-6.png

Ten theoretical clues to understanding United Nations reform (Briefing Paper #6)

umcrest.png

The Role of Regional Cooperation in Eradicating Poverty and Aid Dependency in East Africa

The hypothesis of this thesis is that regional cooperation and integration are effective tools in alleviating poverty within nations and reducing their dependency on foreign or development aid.

6186GRJBFFL.jpg

How Much is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations

Ten of the fifteen seats on the U.N. Security Council are held by rotating members serving two-year terms. We find that a country’s U.S. aid increases by 59 percent and its U.N. aid by 8 percent when it rotates onto the council. This effect increases during years in which key diplomatic events take place (when members’ votes should be especially valuable) and the timing of the effect closely tracks a country’s election to, and exit from, the council. Finally, the U.N. results appear to be driven by UNICEF, an organization over which the United States has historically exerted great ...

On-Behalf-of-My-Delegation.png

On Behalf of My Delegation,…: A Survival Guide for Developing Country Climate Negotiators

The one hundred pages of this book are in fact a useful Survival Guide for those approaching climate change negotiations for the first time. It has been written for developing country delegates, but delegates from other countries can also profit from its reading the same way that a similar survival guide for industrialized country delegates would be useful for those coming from developing countries, because it is necessary to know both sides of the story

Renewing-the-United-Nations-System.png

Renewing the United Nations System

Our object in this study is to analyse the present state of the UN 'system' and to suggest changes and reforms which might allow it to function in a more systematic and effective manner. This study is the fourth in a sequence analysing salient problems in the working of the United Nations system and recommending how to equip it better to meet the enormous challenges of a new era. Each study has benefited from the sponsorship and consistent encouragement of the Dag Harnrnarskjold Foundation (Uppsala, Sweden) and the Ford Foundation (New York, USA). The work began in 1989-1990 with issues ...

mul_dip.jpg

Multilateral Diplomacy: The United Nations System at Geneva: A Working Guide

mikta-1.png

5th MIKTA Foreign Ministers’ Meeting: Joint Communiqué

61R4XH0izWL.jpg

Diplomacy at the Highest Level: The Evolution of International Summitry

page_1-3.jpg

The impact of cultural diversity on multilateral diplomacy and relations

Basic concepts mean different things in different cultures. In multilateral relations this means that looking at such a concept is always culturally biased. As a result, an interpretation according to one culture also tends to criticise different interpretations according to other cultures. This paper discusses how important it is that diplomats and politicians pay attention to and accept the fact of cultural diversity. If they do, they will understand the underlying causes of many conflicting attitudes and they may become more inclined to seek compromise and consensual approaches rather than ...

Diplomacy-at-the-UN.png

Old diplomacy in New York

41XXOFOluZL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

The New Economic Diplomacy

5128xhqKZ5L._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

Global Environmental Politics

un.png

The complexification of the United Nations system

9211045347.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg

Internet Governance: A Grand Collaboration

416QWelP2XL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Negotiating and Navigating Global Health: Case Studies in Global Health Diplomacy

jan.png

The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations

"The New Public Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations" is a thought-provoking and insightful book that delves into the realm of public diplomacy and its significance in the context of modern international relations. Authored by Jan Melissen, a renowned scholar in the field, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the evolving nature of diplomacy and the growing importance of soft power.

Diplomacy-at-the-UN.jpg

Diplomacy at the UN

31NgBuuU4mL.jpg

The History and Politics of UN Security Council Reform

Dimitris Bourantonis, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Athens University of Economics and Business and a well-published writer on the UN over many years, has provided a very valuable service for students of the world body by writing this short book.

411wy-YYiTS._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Coercive Cooperation: Explaining Multilateral Economic Sanctions

1609000779031.jpg

Diplomacy Before and After Conflict

51z2IvdbqiL.jpg

Unvanquished: A U.S.-U.N. Saga

Question: When is a diplomatic victory not a diplomatic victory? Answer: When it is achieved by means of a veto in the Security Council of the United Nations. Nowhere is this maxim more tellingly illustrated than in the Council’s meeting in New York in November 1996 which voted on the issue of whether or not […]

download-3.jpg

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Policy_papers_briefs_02_BRJ-200x283-1.png

The MIKTA Way Forward (Briefing Paper #2)

Ms Rosen Jacobson assesses the potential, risk, and future of MIKTA, a cooperation scheme comprising Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and Australia, which was officially launched in September 2013.

download-3.jpg

Outcome document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development: Addis Ababa Action Agenda

51vGU3ZOvUL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Envisioning Reform: Enhancing UN Accountability in the Twenty-first Century

Prenegotiation and Mediation: The Anglo-Argentine Diplomacy after the Falklands/Malvinas War (1983-1989)

This paper studies the process of prenegotiation and the role of mediators during the negotiations between the Argentine and British governments about the dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands from immediately after the war of 1982 to 1990. In this period, the relationship between both governments evolved from rupture and no-relations to the agreement on the conditions to negotiate the renewal of full diplomatic relations concluded in early 1990. In a preliminary process of prenegotiation, the governments of Switzerland, initially, and the United States played a ro...

51sxJGaMHtL.jpg

Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century

41q0IElAVHL._SX328_BO1204203200_.jpg

Negotiating Public Health in a Globalized World: Global Health Diplomacy in Action

What is Global Health Diplomacy? A Conceptual Review

umcrest.png

The European Union and the Latin American and the Caribbean Dialogue: Building a Strong Partnership

eu.png

EU Strategy for Africa

umcrest.png

Digital Diplomacy as a foreign policy statecraft to achieving regional cooperation and integration in the Polynesian Leaders Group

Established in 2011, the Polynesian Leaders Groups serves to fulfill a vision of cooperation, strengthening integration on issues pertinent to the region and to the future of the PLG. Its nine – American Samoa, French Polynesia, Niue, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga and Wallis Futuna, is argued to have strength in numbers, resources and diversity, and a positive addition to the growing regional diplomacies in the South Pacific.

41HG2S3W5WL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary

The inertia of Diplomacy

Diplomacy is used to manage the goals of foreign policy focusing on communication. New trends affect the institution of diplomacy in different ways. Diplomacy has received an additional tool in the form of the Internet. In various cases of interdependence and dependence interference in a country’s affairs is accepted. Multilateral cooperation has created parliamentary diplomacy and a new type of diplomat, the international civil servant. States and their diplomats are in demand to curb the excesses of globalization. The fight against terrorism also brought additional work for diplomac...

coverimage-1.jpg

Diplomacy with a Difference: The Commonwealth Office of High Commissioner, 1880-2006

Book review by Geoff Berridge

oecd.jpg

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action

Activities of the Department of Public Information: Strategic communications services

Regional and Multilateral Trade Agreements: Complementary Means to Open Markets

umcrest.png

The United Nations and Israel

This dissertation studies the relationship between the United Nations and Israel. Similar to most relationships, the one under review keeps evolving due to changing internal realities and emerging external factors.

Maduka-Attamah.png

Strengthening the region’s participation

‘Witnessing the open community policy development process at the AfriNIC community led me to further appreciate the importance of the Policy Research Phase of the Diplo IGCBP. AfriNIC-13 was an eye opener...’ - Maduka Attamah from Nigeria

PIFS_Logo_Hi_res_no_text_400x400.jpg

Strengthening Regional Management: A Review of the Architecture for Regional Co-operation in the Pacific

Barbara-Rosen-Jacobson.png

Searching for Meaningful Human Control. The April 2018 Meeting on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (Briefing Paper #10)

In this briefing paper, Ms Barbara Rosen Jacobson analyses the debate of the April 2018 meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The group was established to discuss emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS).

UN-21st-century.png

A United Nations for the Twenty-First Century

H_z30lkd_400x400.jpg

Tunis Agenda for the Information Society

umcrest.png

The Role of Small States in the Multilateral Framework

The current world geopolitical configuration shows how after the end of a bipolar world set by the top superpowers (United States and the Ex Soviet Republic) along with other major players (such as Germany, Great Britain, France, Japan and China, the P5 United Nations Security Council members + 1 with the full capacity of veto power in all world top decisions and procedures) set up a new world reconfiguration that has emerged since the end of the twenty century and mainly in the beginning of this 21th century standing driven from some centers of power and in parasailed with the political and e...

51z2IvdbqiL.jpg

Unvanquished: A U.S.-U.N. Saga

Question: When is a diplomatic victory not a diplomatic victory? Answer: When it is achieved by means of a veto in the Security Council of the United Nations. Nowhere is this maxim more tellingly illustrated than in the Council's meeting in New York in November 1996 which voted on the issue of whether or not to give a full second term (five years) to the Secretary-General, the University of Paris educated Egyptian scholar-diplomat, Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Of the 15 members of the Council, 14 voted in favour and one voted against. Since that member was the United States this represented a vet...

clingendael-2018.png

The Diplomacy of Micro States

Multilateral-Negotiations.png

Multilateral Negotiations: From Strategic Considerations to Tactical Recommendations

umcrest.png

The IberoAmerican System and its Influence in the Ibero-American Regional Summit Diplomacy

Global Health, Aid Effectiveness and the Changing Role of the WHO

communw-300x300-1.jpg

Valletta Statement on Multilateral Trade

Towards-a-secure-cyberspace-via-regional-co-operation.png

Towards a secure cyberspace via regional co-operation

The study Towards a secure cyberspace via regional co-operation provides an overview of the international dialogue on establishing norms of state behaviour and confidence-building measures in cyberspace.

unnamed-1.jpg

Small states and NATO: Influence and accommodation

51l2-tDSOtL._SX313_BO1204203200_.jpg

Mediation in the Yugoslav Wars: The Critical Years, 1990-95

61u6oy-6C5L.jpg

Ahead of the Curve? UN Ideas and Global Challenges

Ideas and concepts are arguably the most important legacy of the United Nations. Ahead of the Curve? analyzes the evolution of key ideas and concepts about international economic and social development born or nurtured, refined or applied under UN auspices since 1945. The authors evaluate the policy ideas coming from UN organizations and scholars in relation to such critical issues as decolonization, sustainable development, structural adjustment, basic needs, human rights, women, world employment, the transition of the Eastern bloc, the role of nongovernmental organizations, and global govern...

showCoverImage.jpg

What are the priorities for small states in the international system?

There is no evidence that the vigorous political action needed to implement the recommendations of previous reports on the vulnerability of small states in the Commonwealth will be forthcoming in the near future. In matters of security, economics and particularly the environment, the collective interests of small states do not appear to have been recognized in the international community. Major donors find dealing with small individual demands from multiple small states difficult, but a regional approach simplifies matters and should be the primary area of concern. The Vulnerability Index prov...

download-3.gif

UN Conferences: Media events or genuine diplomacy?

Preference-Dependent-Economies-and-Multilateral-Liberalization.png

Preference-Dependent Economies and Multilateral Liberalization: Impacts and Options

317VQW7HRPL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_ML2_.jpg

Innovation in Diplomatic Practice

From U Thant to Kofi Annan: UN Peacemaking in Cyprus, 1964-2004

2004 marked the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations presence in Cyprus. Since March 1964, the UN has been responsible for addressing and managing both peacekeeping and peacemaking efforts on the island.

51h0OlkFWmL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind

page_1-2-1.jpg

UN conferences on the spot – voices from civil society

In the fourth chapter of the book, Britta Sadou, focuses on non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Sadou introduces this particular group as civil society actors and continues by discussing possibilities provided to NGOs by various UN summits. The author highlights some of the main world conferences during the 1990s and early 2000s and poses two important questions - Has the time of those huge events come to an end? What could be the alternatives?

71vyn2p9S9L.jpg

The Reform of the United Nations

Reforming the Working Methods of the UN Security Council: The Next ACT

ACT is a new group of 22 UN member states that is pressing for reform of the working methods of the UN Security Council in order to improve its accountability, coherence and transparency. To achieve its aims, ACT will have to avoid being caught up in the stalled debate over Council membership reform. The group, currently dominated by small states, will also need new partners from different geographical regions, and with more political weight. Moreover, if ACT wants to involve the permanent members of the Security Council, it may have to limit its emphasis on the role of the veto. ACT aim...

51ENqCSksCL._SX345_BO1204203200_.jpg

The WTO Agreements: Deficiencies, Imbalances and Required Changes

52827_book_item_52827.jpg

International Diplomacy Volume III: The Pluralisation of Diplomacy

51AkMKeRf4L._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

The Clash of Globalizations: Essays on the Political Economy of Trade and Development Policy

UnitedNations-logo.png

The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the planet

asem.png

ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting (ASED)

Caribbean Diplomacy: Research on Diplomacy of Small States

With little recourse to traditional economic and political power in their international relations, diplomacy for Caribbean states is a key mechanism to achieve the realisation of the region’s overall development agenda. The Caribbean is no stranger to diplomatic challenges.

Regionalism versus Multilateralism

The literature on regionalism versus multilateralism is growing as economists and political scientists grapple with the question of whether regional integration arrangements are good or bad for the multilateral system. Are regional integration arrangements "building * blocks or stumbling blocks," in Jagdish Bhagwati's phrase, or stepping stones toward multilateralism?

download.jpg

Multilateralism under Challenge? Power, International Order, and Structural Change

The values and institutions of multilateralism are not ahistorical phenomena. They are created and maintained in the context of specific demands and challenges, and through specific forms of leadership, norms, and international power configurations. All of these factors evolve and change; there is little reason to believe that multilateral values or institutions could or should remain static in form and nature. The relationship between the distribution of power, the nature of challenges and problems, and the international institutions that emerge to deal with collective challenges is const...

Glossary_E_0.pdf.png

Multilateral Conferences and Diplomacy: A Glossary of Terms for UN Delegates

Reforming-the-World-Trade-Organisation.png

Reforming the World Trade Organisation: Developing Countries in the Doha Round

Backstabbing.jpg

Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy

On 21 April 2004, the Security Council adopted resolution 1538(2004), the most embarrassing resolution in the history of the United Nations. The resolution appointed an independent high-level inquiry whose mandate was to 'collect and examine information relating to the administration and management of the Oil-for-Food Programme, including allegations of fraud and corruption on the part of United Nations officials, personnel and agents, as well as contractors, including entities that have entered into contracts with the United Nations or with Iraq under the Programme.'

umcrest.png

The Role of the United Nations in Making Progress Towards Peace in Burundi

123356.webp

United Nations-Sponsored World Conferences: Focus on Impact and Follow-up

umcrest.png

The Role of Diplomacy in the Challenges to Maritime Security Cooperation in the Gulf of Guinea: Case Study of Nigeria

There is presently a pervading feeling that the West and Central African states are long overdue to take control of their maritime environment. However, these expectations show no indication of materialising in the short term.

unga2020.png.jpg

Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

page_1-3.jpg

Organisational culture of UN agencies: The need for diplomats to manage porous boundary phenomena

The goal of this article is to introduce readers to the complexity of the organisational culture of UN agencies in order to limit possible misunderstandings about the functioning of the UN and its agencies and in order to make diplomatic interactions with UN agencies as efficient and as effective as possible.

un-framework.jpg

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

cover_preview.jpg

Perspectives on Africa’s Integration and Cooperation from OAU to AU

0199588864.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_SX500_.jpg

The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy

Preventive Diplomacy in Southeast Asia: Redefining the ASEAN Way

WHO-logo-vertical-2016-neg.jpg

WHO reform process: documents

A-Tipping-Point-for-the-Internet-Predictions-for-2018-Briefing-Paper-9.png

A Tipping Point for the Internet: Predictions for 2018 (Briefing Paper #9)

41cRlcFbecL._SX322_BO1204203200_.jpg

The Peace Brokers: Mediators in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-79

3194MEX7SAL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

The Procedure of the UN Security Council

small.png

Security for small states

Building-New-Alliances-Solving-Global-Problems.png

Multilateral Institutions: Building New Alliances, Solving Global Problems

The mountain of global problems, viz. the list of world tasks that can be solved only collectively by the international community, continues to grow. At the same time, the multilateral institutions find themselves in the midst of a difficult process of change, one marked by a high degree of mistrust and fragmentation in the international community as well as by a low level of willingness and ability to tackle global tasks in the multilateral framework. This trend has been due to certain unilateral reflexes that emerged when the Cold War drew to a close and above all to the experiences th...

jk.png

Knowledge management: experience from international organisations

In this chapter, John Pace decribes the three-phase evolution of knowledge management in the human rights program of the United Nations. The realisation that knowledge management is a necessity came during the third phase. The author also describes the complex system of monitoring bodies and ad hoc mechanisms, and the developments that took place following four decisions taken in the mid-eighties.

The study of regional integration

41Uk1vOayCL._SX322_BO1204203200_.jpg

The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present and Future of the United Nations

cont.jpg

Contemporary Diplomacy: Representation and Communication in a Globalized World

41cGinK0tFS._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

International Relations and Global Climate Change

Vision-2020-A-Discussion-of-UN-Security-Council-Reform.jpg

Reform of the United Nations Security Council

cap.png

Common African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

The participatory approach that led to the elaboration of the Common African Position (CAP) on the post-2015 Development Agenda involving stakeholders at the national, regional and continental levels among the public and private sectors, parliamentarians, civil society organizations (CSOs), including women and youth associations, and academia. This approach has helped address the consultation gap in the initial preparation and formulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

kahler-3351.jpg

Leadership Selection in the Major Multilaterals

Inspired by the damaging leadership contest fiascos of recent years in certain international organizations, not least that in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1998-9, this is a timely and important book. Kahler emphasises that if these bodies do not abandon their old, creaking 'club system of governance' and get their acts together, they will lose their already precarious support in the US Congress and forfeit that of their increasingly assertive members among the developing countries, particularly the large emerging market-economies. With the institutions of global governance thus put at...

UnitedNations-logo.png

The Milennium Development Goals Report 2015

Modernising-Dutch-Diplomacy.png

Modernising Dutch Diplomacy

1533292023141.jpg

Security Council reform: Why it matters and why it’s not happening

download-3.jpg

Framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation

The Hypocrisy Threatening the Future of the Internet

978-1-4614-5401-4.jpg

Global Health Diplomacy: Concepts, Issues, Actors, Instruments, Fora and Cases

31YMwJKaCeS._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

A New Diplomacy for Sustainable Development: The Challenge of Global Change

The-Art-of-Letting-Others-Have-Your-Way.jpg

Multilateral Diplomacy for Small States: The Art of Letting Others Have Your Way

Multilateral Diplomacy for Small States: The Art of Letting Others Have Your Way

enh.jpg

Enhancing Global Governance: Towards a New Diplomacy

cover_malone.jpg

Decision-Making in the UN Security Council: The case of Haiti, 1990-1997

Question: 'When is a "Foreword" not a "Foreword"? Answer: When it is written by Adam Roberts. This book started life as an Oxford doctoral thesis under the supervision of Professor Roberts, and the former supervisor has done both the former student and readers of this book a great service by prefacing it with a seven-page essay in which he underlines its importance in convincing detail. So this, unlike ninety-nine per cent of examples of the same genre, is a Foreword that should not be ignored.

61U1qOfo37L.jpg

The United Nations: An Introduction

ADF-13.png

ADF-13 Report: Supporting Africa’s Transformation

Eliot-Nsega.jpg

Facing the challenges of an Africa-wide ICT strategy

'There is a need to address these challenges to enhance the capacity of the AU organs, institutions and member states to better respond to instances of ICT policy in Africa. As part of the evolving African governance architecture, there is a need to formulate an ICT strategy...' - Eliot Nsega from Uganda

Triangular-Co-operation.png

Triangular Co-operation and Aid Effectiveness: Can triangular co-operation make aid more effective?

51I2lwI-8CL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance

UnitedNations-logo.png

Trends and Progress in International Cooperation: Report of the Secretary-General

The challenge of regionalism

download-1-1.png

Summitry in the Americas: The End of Mass Multilateralism?

Summits among large numbers of leaders that convene on a periodic basis are the “new diplomacy.” In the Western Hemisphere, summits continue to multiply, whether in response to specific issues or to the desire by certain countries to assert their leadership. At the same time, skepticism regarding the value of summits has become widespread. A common view is that summits are largely photo ops for leaders and that their lofty communiqués are soon forgotten, leaving a wide gap between aspirations and implementation. These frustrations notwithstanding, summits are here to stay. Gathering...

UNEP.png

Manual on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Negotiating the Balkans: The Prenegotiation Perspective

The issues, the activities and the relations preceding the formal international negotiations have increasingly become an area of a special theoretical interest.

umcrest.png

The World Bank’s Contribution to Poverty Reduction in Peru

Peru’s economy has improved significantly, however poverty is an imperative issue that is not progressing as expected.

52827_book_item_52827.jpg

International Diplomacy Volume II: Diplomacy in a Multicultural World

41McUr3xIML._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Saving the Mediterranean: The Politics of International Environmental Cooperation

Development-Cooperation.png

Development Co-operation Report 2015: Making Partnerships Effective Coalitions for Action

Funeral-summits.png

Funeral summits

Berridge, G. R. (1996) 'Funeral summits', in David H. Dunn (ed.), Diplomacy at the Highest Level: The evolution of international summitry (Macmillan - now Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke).

Harold-Nicolson.jpg

Peacemaking 1919

51gp3svvTGL._SX322_BO1204203200_.jpg

United Nations, Divided World, 2nd ed

china.png

China is waking up to the benefits of good diplomacy in Asia

UNDP-Strategic-Plan-2014-17.png

Changing with the World: UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-17

With the changing world as the backdrop, and building on our core strengths, our vision is focused on making the next big breakthrough in development: to help countries achieve the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion. This is a vision within reach, with the eradication of extreme poverty and major reductions in overall poverty feasible within a generation. It should be possible as well to make significant inroads against income and non- income measures of inequality and exclusion within this time frame.

Language-and-Diplomacy_cover.jpg

Use of language in diplomacy

Part of Language and Diplomacy (2001): Ambassador Stanko Nick takes a practical approach, examining issues such as the choice of language in bilateral and multilateral meetings, the messages conveyed by language choice, difficulties posed by interpretation, and aspects of diplomatic language including nuance, extra-linguistic signalling, and understatement. Language, according to Nick, is not a simple tool but "often the very essence of the diplomatic vocation."

41S0WkllIwL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

The International Climate Change regime: A Guide to Rules, Institutions and Procedures

cc.jpg

Climate for Change: Non-state Actors and the Global Politics of the Greenhouse

Barbara-Rosen-Jacobson_diplo.png

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems: Mapping the GGE Debate (Briefing Paper #8)

Flag_of_the_African_Union.svg_.png

Declaration of the Global African Diaspora Summit

51cGOyUy2xL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Hanging Together: Cooperation and conflict in the seven power summits

52827_book_item_52827.jpg

International Diplomacy Volume IV: Public Diplomacy

Jonas_Gahr_Store_undated.jpg

Global Health and the Foreign Policy Agenda

Power: The nexus of global health diplomacy?

71KD21mEaSL.jpg

We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century

The world did celebrate as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, in one time zone after another, from Kiribati and Fiji westward around the globe to Samoa. People of all cultures joined in—not only those for whom the millennium might be thought to have a special significance. The Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Giza were lit as brightly as Manger Square in Bethlehem and St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Tokyo, Jakarta and New Delhi joined Sydney, Moscow, Paris, New York, Rio de Janeiro and hundreds of other cities in hosting millennial festivities. Children’s faces ref...

surrender-is-not-an-option-9781416552857_hr.jpg

Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad

518GoSqbsmL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations

pdf__.png

Engineering Influence: The Subtile Power of Small States in the CSCE/OSCE

Language-and-Diplomacy_cover.jpg

Ambiguity versus precision: The changing role of terminology in conference diplomacy

Part of Language and Diplomacy (2001): Of central concern in the field of negotiation is the use of ambiguity to find formulations acceptable to all parties. Professor Norman Scott looks at the contrasting roles of ambiguity and precision in conference diplomacy. He explains that while documents drafters usually try to avoid ambiguity, weaker parties to an agreement may have an interest in inserting ambiguous provisions, while those with a stronger position or more to gain will push for precision.

Stefanie-Babst.png

Reinventing NATO’s Public Diplomacy

New-Zealand-Ministry-of-Foreign-Affairs-Trade.png

United Nations Handbook 2015-16

international-org.jpg

International Organisation in World Politics

The Grand Decade for Global Health: 1998-2008

9780199560103.jpg

The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations

10140.cover_.jpg

How should the WHO reform: An analysis and review of literature

41dqc1fx41L._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating More Effective Global Agreements

umcrest.png

Small States at the United Nations

The proliferation of small states in the past few decades has brought small and larger states on the same playing field. Their increase in number triggered a wave of studies, raised concern by 'realists' and some powerful states, and led to an affirmation that at the United Nations, all states are equal, regardless of size.

Securing-the-Future.png

Securing the Future of Multilateral Development Finance: Time for Europe to take the Initiative

816F6bCkfeL.jpg

Alliances and Small Powers

000000000010057138_522.jpg

Mainstreaming Development in the WTO

g_r_berridge.jpg

The UN and the world diplomatic system: lessons from the Cyprus and US- North Korea talks

In Bourantonis, D. and M. Evriviades (eds), A United Nations for the Twenty-First Century(Kluwer Law International, 1996), pp. 105-16

978-3-662-03925-0.jpg

The Kyoto Protocol: International Climate Policy for the 21st Century

Multilateralism and the End of History

81UjKIsyjIL.jpg

Multilateral Diplomacy and the United Nations Today

As the world confronts new and ongoing challenges of globalization, international terrorism and an array of other global issues, the United Nations and its key attribute-multilateral diplomacy-are more important now than ever before. With new and updated essays that detail the experiences of a diverse group of practitioners and scholars who work in the field of diplomacy, this new edition covers in even greater breadth and depth the quintessential characteristics of multilateral diplomacy as it is conducted within the United Nations framework. Multilateral Diplomacy and the United Nations Toda...

book-multistakeholder.jpg

Multistakeholder Diplomacy – Challenges and Opportunities

This book is a collection of papers from Diplo’s February 2005 conference in Malta and from research interns involved in our Multistakeholder Diplomacy internship programme.

el.png

Consensus Rule Processes

multilateral-conferences.jpg

Multilateral Conferences: Purposeful International Negotiation

modern-diplomacy.png

Modern Diplomacy – Opening address

Opening address of the Honourable Dr. George F. Vella, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment of Malta.

51HP9X4Y3DL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

The Greening of Machiavelli: The Evolution of International Environmental Policy

9781349167579.jpg

A History of the United Nations. Volume I: The Years of Western Domination 1945-1955

umcrest.png

Regional water cooperation in the Arab – Israeli Conflict: A case study of the West Bank

The conflict between Israel and Arab countries, with several devastating wars, is about territory and land, and maybe just as crucially on the water that flows through that land. This dissertation, an analysis of the management of water in the West Bank, as a case study, seeks to underline the possibility of using soft power diplomacy, in addition to mediation and water cooperation, for a more collaborative kind of approach to the conflict.

31ua9oMJ1UL._SX327_BO1204203200_.jpg

Reforming the United Nations: The Challenge of Working Together

51-jwtkDQ-L._SY344_BO1204203200_.jpg

21st century health diplomacy: A new relationship between foreign policy and health

41aTwuHLSNL.jpg

Managing Global Chaos

wto.png

Work Programme on Electronic Commerce

The globalization of public health: the first 100 years of international health diplomacy

Global threats to public health in the 19th century sparked the development of international health diplomacy. Many international regimes on public health issues were created between the mid-19th and mid20th centuries. The present article analyses the global risks in this field and the international legal responses to them between 1851 and 1951, and explores the lessons from the first century of international health diplomacy of relevance to contemporary efforts to deal with the globalization of public health.

Development-Co-operation.png

Development Co-operation Report 2014: Mobilising Resources for Sustainable Development

Assessing implementation mechanisms for an international agreement on research and development for health products

The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) are currently debating the substance and form of an international agreement to improve the financing and coordination of research and development (R&D) for health products that meet the needs of developing countries. In addition to considering the content of any possible legal or political agreement, Member States may find it helpful to reflect on the full range of implementation mechanisms available to bring any agreement into effect. These include mechanisms for states to make commitments, administer activities, manage financial co...

41BT7K5YCKL._SX334_BO1204203200_.jpg

Hanging In There: The G7 and G8 Summit in Maturity and Renewal

Return-to-the-UN.png

Return to the UN: United Nations diplomacy in regional conflicts

‘… lively … persuasive … careful analysis… This is a very readable study, combining narrative strength with political acuity, and informative on the years of disappointment … Much has changed since the UN’s annus mirabilis, but Berridge’s conclusions still stand’, Nicholas Sims, London School of Economics, Millenium.

The Environmental Movement in the Global South

Future_multilateral_diplomacy_front_0.png

The future of (multilateral) diplomacy? Changes in response to COVID-19 and beyond

The year 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN). It is also the year that the world was faced with responding to the emergence of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, an unprecedented global challenge that has left no area of society and no individual life untouched.

multilateral-conferences.jpg

Multilateral Conferences: Purposeful International Negotiation

Ron Walker was a member of the Australian diplomatic service for 37 years, for the last 22 of which (1975-96) he specialized in multilateral diplomacy. His book on this subject is not an academic book. Instead he has done for multilateral diplomacy what Kishan Rana has done for bilateral diplomacy, namely, provided on the basis of long and wide experience, much at a senior level, a splendid handbook of practical advice for the novice.

41rQ1BuShNL._SY291_BO1204203200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp

Global Warming and Global Politics

who-logo-791x1024-1.jpg

Governance fore Health in the 21st Century: A study conducted for the WHO Regional Office for Europe

eu-2018.png

European Union external action structure: Beyond state and intergovernmental organisations diplomacy

This dissertation analyses the organisation of the external action structures of the European Union. As an international actor which is beyond a state, but also different to traditional international organisations, the EU has created a “diplomatic constellation” in which diplomacy from member states is not substituted but complemented by EU external action.

images.jpg

A New Wave for the Reform of the Security Council of the United Nations: Great Expectations but Little Results

The reform of the Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC) has been an elusive issue at the United Nations (UN). While practically all Member States agree on the need to change the structure of the most powerful body of the world organization, so far there has been no agreement about what elements of that reform or about the substance of the reform itself.

41AzdcF55ZL._SX331_BO1204203200_.jpg

The United Nations and Development: From Aid to Cooperation

umcrest.png

The evolution of diplomacy in the Caribbean

This paper will focus on the development of diplomacy in the Caribbean and how it impacts the development of small Caribbean States, paying attention to the regional, bilateral and multilateral levels of diplomacy.

UN-Commission-on-Global-Governance.gif

Our Global Neighbourhood

61r3mx8zvXL.jpg

Democratic Intergovernmental Organizations? Normative Pressures and Decision-Making Rules

At first sight, the very choice of the title of this book may indicate that the author, Alexandru Grigorescu, was not sure about the existence of such thing. Indeed, to be or not to be democratic is not a top concern on the internal agenda of international organizations. Therefore, Grigorescu’s fresh endeavour to find an answer to such a purposeful question is ab initio a praiseworthy academic démarche.

umcrest.png

Palestinian statehood diplomacy: The Palestinian UN bids of 2011-2012

The Palestinian Authority (PA) launched an intense diplomatic campaign to garner a supporting vote in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which was finally realized in 2012 by an upgrade to a 'non member observer state', granting Palestine a set of new privileges. It represents a victory for Palestinian diplomacy and presents a model of statehood diplomacy that received support as much as criticism. It stirred discussions about statehood and state recognition, and exposed the limited success of international interventions in post-conflict state building efforts.

41U96W4u4VL._SX339_BO1204203200_.jpg

Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World

Review by Geoff Berridge

umcrest.png

The development of multilateral diplomacy and its fundamental role in global security and progression.

This dissertation is written to present the notion of peace and security to be the direct result of international cooperation through multilateral means

614zINZs5fL.jpg

Small States in International Relations

1559241540702.jpg

Message on Switzerland’s International Cooperation in 2013-2016

page_1-3.jpg

Diplomacy on a south-south dimension

Building international diplomacy requires understanding ourselves, others, and how we relate together. It also involves understanding how others relate among themselves. In efforts to internationalise and build a truly global future, the consideration of contacts among all parts of the world becomes critical. The sustained diplomatic cooperation that has taken place in the last 50 years between China and African nations is an instructive example. This major phenomenon is the focus of this paper.

51SDBSMQLQL._SX329_BO1204203200_.jpg

The Organization of Global Negotiations: Constructing the Climate Change Regime

52827_book_item_52827.jpg

International Diplomacy Volume I: Diplomatic Institutions

Multilateral-Aid-2015.jpg

Multilateral Aid 2015: Better Partnerships for a Post-2015 World

51nq8RlF8yL._SX352_BO1204203200_.jpg

What’s the World Health Organization For?

Switzerlands-good-offices.png

Switzerland’s good offices: a changing concept, 1945-2002