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Intergovernmental Organizations between Mission and Market: International Institutional Law and the Private Sector

Project description

A legal look into public–private partnerships

Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) such as the World Health Organisation cannot avoid the market. Working for public benefit, IGOs may be funded by the private sector or through public–private partnerships; IGOs themselves operate on markets; and their decisions inevitably affect private actors. The EU-funded PRIVIGO project will study the extent of the private sector's involvement and how IGO law responds to this involvement. It will also review the underlying legal framework: how rules are shaped by theoretical considerations and assumptions that are rarely questioned. The project will focus on eight domains in which private partnerships with IGOs are visible: food security, transportation, energy provision, health, human re-settlement, finance, resources and environment, and arms control.

Objective

Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the World Health Organization or International Maritime Organization have always been assumed to work for the public good. Yet, they also engage the private sector in many ways. Some are funded by the private sector or set up public-private partnerships; IGOs themselves act and compete on markets when procuring goods and services or when marketing their own services; and their operations and standard-setting activities inevitably affect the distribution of benefits between private parties. Like most organizations, IGOs allocate costs and benefits, and therewith affect the private sector. IGOs are said to exercise functions on behalf of member states and for the public good, yet the encounter with the private sector may see them act in tension with this public mission. PRIVIGO will investigate this tension, first, by examining how widespread private sector involvement is and how IGO law responds to this involvement. Second, PRIVIGO will examine how the underlying framework of the law is affected: the legal rules are informed by theoretical considerations that are, in turn, informed by assumptions and axioms that are rarely questioned yet may be fundamentally irreconcilable with private sector involvement. In this manner, PRIVIGO will change how IGO law and IGO lawyers perceive and understand IGOs, renewing IGO legal theory. PRIVIGO will build on case studies conducted in eight different and varied domains where IGOs with a clear public mission are active and connections to the private sector are visible: food security; transportation; energy provision; health; human re-settlement; finance; resources and environment; and arms control. PRIVIGO aims to develop the law relating to IGOs and build up solid theoretical foundations, mindful of the huge impact of IGOs on our everyday lives.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2019-ADG

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Host institution

HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
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.

€ 2 407 105,00
Address
FABIANINKATU 33
00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Finland

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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.

€ 2 407 105,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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