Mechanisms of OECD Governance: International Incentives for National Policy-Making?

This volume is devoted to the analysis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its role in international and national policy making. On its 50th anniversary, the OECD enjoys widely acknowledged international standing. Despite this, it has so far remained a rarely researched and analyzed organization. This book is thus a pioneering work: it fills a long-overdue gap in presenting a theoretically guided and empirically rich analysis of the OECD as a political actor. It explores its role in political processes through various case studies in a variety of policy fields. By conceptualizing the contributions to this volume around the concept of mechanisms of governance, it explores how and to what extent the OECD provides international incentives for national policy making. The volume collects a set of ten contributions on the OECD and its activities in core fields of its commitment as an 'economic organization', such as economic and labor market policy, tax issues, finance or financial crime, but also in complementary fields in which the organization is active today despite its original economic focus, such as education, biotechnology, health, family issues, and migration. The case studies presented in this volume are an interdisciplinary collection from different academic perspectives, including political science, international relations, law, and organization studies. The book provides a current and wide-ranging analysis of this organization including its constraints and opportunities in policy making. Contributors to this volume - Monique Centrone Stefani is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at The State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, USA. Kerstin Jacobsson is Professor of Sociology and a Senior Lecturer at Sodertorn University, Sweden Anja P. Jakobi is a Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF/HSFK), Germany. Alexandra Kaasch is a Senior Researcher at the TranState Research Center "Transformations of the State " at the University of Bremen, Germany. Robert T. Kudrle is the Orville and Jane Freeman Professor of International Trade and Investment Policy at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the Law School, University of Minnesota, USA. Rianne Mahon is the CIGI Chair in global social governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Kerstin Martens is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Bremen, Germany. Niklas Noaksson is a Political Advisor at the European Parliament. Morten Ougaard is Professor of International Political Economy at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. Tony Porter is Professor of Political Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Janna Teltemann is a Researcher at the TranState Research Center "Transformations of the State " at the University of Bremen, Germany. Richard Woodward is a Lecturer in Political Economy in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Hull, England.