International Organization in Time

Abstract The book investigates the effects of reform programs on international organizations (IOs). Such reforms are often perceived as failing but they do nevertheless drive organizational change. The book argues that reforms trigger path dependent processes in IOs, yielding increasing returns to the winners of historical bargains. Path dependence explains why a seemingly dysfunctional organizational process, namely fragmentation, is hard to reverse but easy to reinforce through organizational reform. Reforms benefit existing veto players, create new centers of organizational power and exacerbate duplications and overlaps even when aiming for the contrary. This fragmentation trap sheds light on pressing reform dilemmas encountered in the United Nations system. It explains why regionalization and the turn to special programs is sustained in the WHO, and why field offices have reinforced the partition into thematic sectors within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The book combines insights from historical institutionalism and sociological organization theory to offer a dynamic account of IO agency and change. It provides a history of the creation and reform of the WHO and a comparison of federal systems in the United Nations, focusing on UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The analysis also illuminates on the path dependent constraints that accompany coordination attempts between the myriad UN programs and agencies. The reform dilemmas exposed in this book are of relevance for IO reformers and for researchers of IO agency and change.