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The limits of international organization: systematic failure in the management of international relations

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  • Gallarotti, Giulio M.

Abstract

Contributors to the literature on international organization (IO) have traditionally been overly optimistic about the ability of multilateral management to stabilize in-ternational relations and have tended to ignore the destabilizing effects of IO. While recent revisionist scholarship has acknowledged both the potential for organizational failure and the conditionality of management, it has tended to focus on how IO fails within specific issue-areas and institutions. This article offers a typology of the inherent (systematic) failures of IO across issue-areas and institutions and thereby seeks to bridge the gaps in our understanding of why many different institutions and managerial schemes have adverse effects. It argues that IO is prone to failure (1) when it attempts to manage complex, tightly coupled systems of relations and issues; (2) when it serves as a substitute either for more substantive and long-term resolutions to international problems or for responsible domestic or foreign policy; (3) when it intensifies international disputes; and (4) when it generates moral hazard. In offering a general theoretical approach to understanding the destabilizing effects of IO, the analysis is intended to serve both as a focal point for understanding critical approaches to the study of IO and as an alternative rationale for eliminating the excesses of multilateral management.

Suggested Citation

  • Gallarotti, Giulio M., 1991. "The limits of international organization: systematic failure in the management of international relations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 183-220, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:45:y:1991:i:02:p:183-220_03
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    Cited by:

    1. Meng Hsuan Chou & Michael Howlett & Kei Koga, 2016. "Image and Substance Failures in Regional Organisations: Causes, Consequences, Learning and Change?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(3), pages 50-61.
    2. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Alexander H. Montgomery, 2008. "Power or Plenty," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 52(2), pages 213-242, April.
    3. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Alexander H. Montgomery, 2012. "War, Trade, and Distrust: Why Trade Agreements Don’t Always Keep the Peace," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(3), pages 257-278, July.
    4. Anand Menon, 2011. "Power, Institutions and the CSDP: The Promise of Institutionalist Theory," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 83-100, January.
    5. Ryan Federo & Angel Saz-Carranza, 2017. "Devising Strategic Plans to improve Organizational Performance of Intergovernmental Organizations," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8(2), pages 202-212, May.

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