IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/worlde/v31y2008i11p1455-1470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International Organisations: The Challenge of Aligning Mission, Means and Legitimacy

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Z. Lawrence

Abstract

To be effective an international organisation must (a) be given an appropriate mission; (b) be given the means to accomplish its mission; and (c) be viewed as legitimate when carrying out the mission. This paper explores the problems in achieving these prerequisites for success first in a general discussion and then in an application to the WTO. Ensuring these conditions are met is not easy because there is an inherent tendency for many international institutions to experience ‘mission creep’, particularly when accountability for burden sharing is weak. This leads to the central dilemma facing many international organisations. If missions are expanded, and organisations given insufficient means, they are likely to fail (or fall short of optimal behaviour) and be criticised for ineffectiveness. However, the more extensive the means they are given, the more likely that their legitimacy will be questioned. The paper argues that the best way for the WTO to deal with these tensions would be to adopt an approach built on a more variable geometry in which countries would not all be required to participate in a single undertaking.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Z. Lawrence, 2008. "International Organisations: The Challenge of Aligning Mission, Means and Legitimacy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(11), pages 1455-1470, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:31:y:2008:i:11:p:1455-1470
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01018.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01018.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2007.01018.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claude Barfield, 2001. "Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the World Trade Organization," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 52877, September.
    2. Robert Z. Lawrence, 2006. "Rulemaking Amidst Growing Diversity: A Club-of-Clubs Approach to WTO Reform and New Issue Selection," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 823-835, December.
    3. Scott Bradford & Robert Z. Lawrence, 2004. "Has Globalization Gone Far Enough: The Costs of Fragmented Markets," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 349, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Masahiro Kawai & Peter A. Petri & Elif Sisli Ciamarra, 2010. "Asia in Global Governance: A Case for Decentralized Institutions," Chapters, in: Masahiro Kawai & Jong-Wha Lee & Peter A. Petri & Giovanni Capanelli (ed.), Asian Regionalism in the World Economy, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Rachel McCulloch, 2010. "The International Trading System and Its Future," Working Papers 08, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    3. Masahiro Kawai & Peter A. Petri, 2014. "Asia'S Role In The Global Economic Architecture," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(1), pages 230-245, January.
    4. Rolf J. Langhammer, 2010. "Unordnung in der internationalen Handelsordnung: Befunde, Gründe, Auswirkungen und Therapien," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 11(1), pages 75-98, February.
    5. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian, 2019. "International authority and the emergency problematique: IO empowerment through crises," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 182-210.
    6. Sterian Maria Gabriela, 2013. "The Role Of International Organizations In The Global Economic Governance – An Assessment," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 8(4.1), pages 308-316, december.
    7. Masahiro Kawai & Peter A. Petri, 2010. "Asia’s Role in the Global Economic Architecture," Governance Working Papers 22728, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2009. "The Service Revolution in South Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 19332, The World Bank Group.
    2. Jacques Fontanel, 2016. "L’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce, Enjeu de pouvoir pour le commerce et le développement économique mondial," Working Papers hal-02083348, HAL.
    3. Soo Yuen Chong & Jung Hur, 2007. "Overlapping Free Trade Agreements of Singapore-USA-Japan : A Computational Analysis," Trade Working Papers 21931, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    4. Euan MacMillan, 2009. "Explaining rising regionalism and failing multilateralism: Consensus decision-making and expanding WTO membership," Working Papers 200916, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    5. Paul Welfens & Tony Irawan, 2014. "Transatlantic trade and investment partnership: sectoral and macroeconomic perspectives for Germany, the EU and the US," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 293-328, September.
    6. Heinz Hauser & Alexander Roitinger, 2002. "A Renegotiation Perspective on Transatlantic Trade Disputes," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2002 2002-09, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    7. Philippa Dee & Anne McNaughton, 2013. "Promoting Domestic Reforms through Regionalism," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Services Trade Reform Making Sense of It, chapter 14, pages 381-427, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Simonovska, Ina & Waugh, Michael E., 2014. "The elasticity of trade: Estimates and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 34-50.
    9. Patrick Minford, 2006. "Measuring the Economic Costs and Benefits of the EU," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 509-524, December.
    10. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "Sustaining multilateral trade cooperation in a multipolar world economy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 241-260, June.
    11. Clemens, Michael A. & Montenegro, Claudio E. & Pritchett, Lant, 2008. "The place premium : wage differences for identical workers across the US border," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4671, The World Bank.
    12. Himayatullah Khan & Laura Giurca Vasilescu, 2008. "Globalization – challenges and debates," Revista Tinerilor Economisti (The Young Economists Journal), University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 1(11), pages 78-85, November.
    13. Jacques Fontanel, 2015. "L’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce, Enjeu de pouvoir pour le commerce et le développement économique mondial," Working Papers hal-02077853, HAL.
    14. Bernard Hoekman & Charles Sabel, 2019. "Open Plurilateral Agreements, International Regulatory Cooperation and the WTO," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 10(3), pages 297-312, September.
    15. Mattoo, Aaditya, 2011. "Services Trade Liberalization and Regulatory Reform: Re-invigorating International Cooperation," CEPR Discussion Papers 8181, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Michael Waugh & Ina Simonovska, 2012. "Different Trade Models, Different Trade Elasticities?," 2012 Meeting Papers 618, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Bernard Hoekman & Charles Sabel, 2021. "Plurilateral Cooperation as an Alternative to Trade Agreements: Innovating One Domain at a Time," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(S3), pages 49-60, April.
    18. Caroline Freund & Sarah Oliver, 2015. "Gains from Convergence in US and EU Auto Regulations under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," RSCAS Working Papers 2015/59, European University Institute.
    19. Euan MacMillan, 2009. "Explaining rising regionalism and failing multilateralism : consensus decision-making and expanding WTO membership," Working Papers 200921, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    20. Kyle Bagwell & Chad P. Bown & Robert W. Staiger, 2016. "Is the WTO Passé?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1125-1231, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:31:y:2008:i:11:p:1455-1470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0378-5920 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.