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Who gets to live forever? Toward an Institutional Theory on the Decline and Death of International Organisations

Project description

The life and death of international organisations

A third of all international organisations (IOs) created between 1905 and 2005 no longer exist. Many IOs today are under mounting pressure. Examples include the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, the mooted exodus of African States from the International Criminal Court and the decision of the United States to leave UNESCO, one of the world's best-known global cultural heritage and preservation organisations. Building on existing research about how IOs are designed and develop, the EU-funded NestIOr project will investigate the decline and death of IOs. Specifically, it will study whether larger and more flexible IOs are more likely to live longer because they can adjust, be more responsive to external pressures, and are more difficult to replace.

Objective

Many international organisations (IOs) are under significant pressure. The World Health Organization was heavily criticized over its handling of the Ebola outbreak. The United States has not contributed to the UNESCO budget since 2011 and plans to quit in 2018. The United Kingdom is negotiating its exit from the EU and Burundi left the International Criminal Court. The ultimate way for states to show their discontent is to disband IOs: no less than a third of the IOs, created between 1905 and 2005, has formally ceased to exist. While academics have analysed how IOs are designed and develop, we know virtually nothing about decline and death. This project addresses therefore the question why do IOs decline or die?

The key innovation is to complete the theory on the 'life and death of IOs'. The main hypothesis is that some IOs, due to their specific institutional characteristics, are better at longevity than other IOs. Flexible IOs are more likely to live longer, because they can adjust and be more responsive to external pressures, such as wars, reduced trade volumes or political turnover in the member states. Larger IOs are also more likely to live longer, as it will be more difficult for states to replace them with other IOs. They may also be in a better position to fight off external pressures, including from the membership.

This project uses a mixed methods approach. Through an innovative survival analysis, it analyses the effect of institutional characteristics on the likelihood that IOs decline or die as a result of external pressures. This requires the compilation of a new dataset. The quantitative analysis is complemented with fine-grained case studies of IOs at risk of declining and dying across different policy areas. These case studies are informed by unique data resulting from interviews.

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2018-STG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 499 977,00
Address
MINDERBROEDERSBERG 4
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands

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Region
Zuid-Nederland Limburg (NL) Zuid-Limburg
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 499 977,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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