The power and dysfunctions of evaluation systems in international organizations

Evaluation ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estelle Raimondo
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Evaluation Theory ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Empirical Inquiry ◽  
Organization Sociology ◽  
The World ◽  
Project Level

Evaluations do not take place in a vacuum. Evaluation systems are embedded within organizations; they shape and are shaped by organizational norms, processes, and behaviors. In International Organizations, evaluation systems are ubiquitous. Yet, little is known about how they “function,” namely how they are used, how they contribute to organizational performance, and how they influence actors’ behaviors. These are empirical questions that cannot be solved without a robust theoretical grounding, which is currently absent from the existing evaluation literature. This article seeks to bridge some of the identified gaps by weaving together insights from evaluation theory and international organization sociology into a unifying framework of factors. The article then demonstrates how the framework can be used to empirically study the relative power and dysfunction of evaluation systems within International Organizations. A forthcoming connected contribution will illustrate such empirical inquiry through the case of the World Bank’s project-level evaluation system.

scholarly journals Common Assessment Framework – Improving Organizational Performance of Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Daut Bajramovic ◽  
Manfred Gram
Keyword(s):  
Total Quality Management ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Total Quality ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Insight Into

Common Assessment Framework (CAF), a European Total Quality Management (TQM) methodology, has been applied by municipalities across Bosnia and Herzegovina for a number of years. Municipalities have used CAF as a self-assessment tool to identify and meet their own development needs and improve organizational performance. Along with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Business Friendly Certificate (BFC) standards, CAF has been promoted by domestic non-governmental and international organizations as a TQM tool for public sector. This article provides an insight into experience of municipalities in BiH with implementation of CAF by focusing on their thematic priorities, organizational efficiency, output, outcome and citizens’ satisfaction.

Legitimation Contests

2019 ◽  
pp. 29-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Dingwerth ◽  
Antonia Witt
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Time Change ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The World

In this chapter, we lay out the theoretical framework that informs our book. We argue that international organizations are legitimated in processes of contestation in which a plethora of actors seeks to define what distinguishes a ‘good’ from a ‘bad’ international organization. In doing so, the actors draw on as well as shape the normative environments in which international organizations are embedded. These environments, in turn, depend on the world political contexts of their time. Change in what we call the terms of legitimation therefore comes from two ends: first, from the dynamics of interaction among those who take part in legitimation contests (‘change from within’); and second, from material or ideational developments that support or challenge the persuasiveness of individual normative frames (‘change from the outside’).

The Research in Programme of Action and Regulations Promoting the Development of Green Building

2011 ◽  
Vol 361-363 ◽  
pp. 1051-1055 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Bo Liu ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Pei Fang Liu
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
The World

The development of green building from a vague understanding to the formulation of the programme of action; from the initial establishment of policy support to the procedure of evaluation system. This paper tries to by the analysis the charter of relevant international organizations,actions, the world in terms of policies and regulations and evaluation system about the green building to describes the history and develop trend of green building, to make the industry have a comprehensive understanding about the all-aruond development of the green building.

John Jackson and the GATT's Transformation

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-403
Author(s):  
STEVE CHARNOVITZ
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Law Students ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Ann Arbor

John Jackson's long, fruitful association with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was unique in the annals of international organizations. His 1969 book, World Trade and the Law of GATT, became the Baedeker for government officials, practitioners, and academics seeking an overall understanding of the trading system or an explanation of a particular GATT provision. Yet the uniqueness of Jackson's relationship to the GATT was not just his foundational scholarship; every international organization in the twentieth century spawned a scholarly community. The uniqueness came from his role as a teacher attracting graduate law students from around the world who traveled to Ann Arbor to study with him and then returned to their countries to take on leadership roles in international trade. These decades of students inspired by Jackson and educated by his synoptic understanding of trade law enhanced Jackson's influence on the GATT in a way that has no parallel in other agencies.

The Origins of Informality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles B. Roger
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Formal Organizations ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Legal Foundations

This book explores the phenomenon of informal international organizations. These bodies are involved in governing many of the most important issues the world currently faces, and differ significantly from the highly legalized, formal organizations the world has traditionally relied on. But despite their evident importance, they remain poorly understood. This book develops a new approach to thinking about these puzzling institutions, presents new data revealing their extraordinary growth over time, and develops a novel theory about why states are creating them. The theory explains how states form preferences over the informality of international organization and how legal designs get chosen through often contentious bargaining processes. This theory of institutional design then informs a more dynamic account of the rise of informality. This account explains how major shifts occurring in the domestic political arenas of powerful states—especially growing polarization and the rise of the regulatory state—have been projected outward and reshaped the legal foundations of global governance. The book systematically tests this theory, quantitatively and qualitatively, and presents detailed accounts of the forces behind some of the most important institutions in the global economy. It concludes with an analysis of the effectiveness of informal organizations, finding that many are likely to be less capable of addressing the complex challenges the world presently confronts.

Responsibility of the WTO for Breach of an International Obligation under the Draft Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 197-242
Author(s):  
Noemi Gal-Or
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
World Trade ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
International Obligation ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Responsibility ◽  
International Legal Personality

SummaryThis article challenges the argument that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is devoid of executive or governing functions and, hence, immune from the regime set out in the International Law Commission’s 2011 Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (RIO). A brief drafting history of the RIO, clarification of the terminology associated with matters of international responsibility, and two hypothetical examples illustrating the potential for WTO responsibility set the stage for the article’s main argument. The author examines the WTO’s nature by analyzing its constituent law, its sui generis mandate and functions, its international legal personality, and its own use of terminology in presenting itself to the world. Critical analysis of RIO Articles 64 (on lex specialis) and 10 (on the existence of a breach of an international obligation), and their application to the WTO, completes the argument. The author thus refutes both the notions that (1) the WTO is exclusively member driven and, hence, not an executive, governing organization but a sui generis entity and (2) the WTO is therefore unable to breach an international obligation and thus immune from the RIO regime. The article concludes that, while a breach by the WTO of an international obligation may be exceedingly rare, it nonetheless — as any international organization — comes within the ambit of the RIO regime. The WTO should therefore consider adjusting its internal rules accordingly.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Translated: WHO’s and the City of Ottawa English and Arabic Narrative of the Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 559-574
Author(s):  
Fadi Jaber
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
International Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Related Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The City ◽  
Do So

Many national and international organizations have constructed and disseminated COVID-19 public narrative and have contributed into the construction of the pandemic meta-narrative. The World Health Organization (henceforth WHO) is the international organization responsible for publishing COVID-19 related information to global audiences and citizens. However, the City of Ottawa is the Canadian federal capital responsible for disseminating information about the pandemic to its citizens who reside in Ottawa. In the light of the evolving events, this paper explores the English and Arabic public narrative of COVID-19 as constructed and published by WHO on its multilingual website and by the City of Ottawa Public Health in Canada. In specific, it scrutinizes how similar or different the communicative messages and meanings are as embedded in the English and Arabic texts of the pandemic public narrative. To do so, this paper methodologically utilizes a qualitative narrative analysis research design guided by narrative theory, types of narrative, and narrative features. Accordingly, the corpus consists of 48 English texts and their 48 Arabic translated texts which were published on WHO’s website under two COVID-19 pandemic topics: “Myth busters” and “Q & As on coronaviruses (COVID-19)”. As well, this paper analyses 12 English texts and their 12 Arabic translated texts which were published on the City of Ottawa’s website. The findings of this paper provide further understanding of similarities and differences in communicative messages and meanings as embedded in the English and Arabic public narrative of COVID-19 pandemic, and as published and represented by WHO and the City of Ottawa.

scholarly journals Remarks by Mary Saunders

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 281-283
Author(s):  
Mary Saunders
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
International Standards ◽  
National Standards ◽  
International Organization ◽  
World Health ◽  
Large Network ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization that develops and publishes fully consensus-based International Standards. ISO members are national standards bodies (NSBs), which may be government, private, or public-private entities. 163 NSBs are members of ISO. The ISO standards portfolio numbers more than 20,000 standards. ISO also has a large network of liaison organizations—which can participate in the ISO process but do not vote. These include many treaty organizations, including the World Health Organization, Codex, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and so on; as well as numerous other international organizations.

The International Law Commission’s Definition of International Organizations

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bouwhuis
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Organization ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of

Whilst the number of international organizations in the world has flourished in recent decades, attempts to analyse them have been hampered by disagreement as to how even to define what is an international organization. The International Law Commission’s recent work on the responsibility of international organizations addresses this absence by providing such a definition. This note tests that definition by applying it to one particular organization, the Commonwealth Secretariat, to see how it applies in practice and concludes with general observations on whether the definition might be used more broadly.

scholarly journals Ways of convergence of the Asian region’s states in International law

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (51) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Yuri S. Bezborodov
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
International Organization ◽  
Regional Association ◽  
The World ◽  
Specific Rule ◽  
Legal Character ◽  
Regional Associations ◽  
Rule Making

The processes of convergence, interspersed with divergence, encompass the entire international community, all subjects without exception and all aspects of social reality. Practically all states of the world are striving to pool their resources and efforts to strengthen their positions in the international arena. However, the characteristics of such processes in different regions of the planet differ significantly. The beginning of this century is marked by an increased scientific and public interest in the processes of regional cooperation taking place around the world. Researchers are thoroughly engaged in identifying their essence, determining the degree of their influence on various spheres of life of various states. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of regional associations and now virtually every country belongs to at least one regional association. In the framework of this work, the international organization as a form of legal convergence (rapprochement) was subjected to the analysis, since it is the form of cooperation that implies a deep, specific rule-making work and includes the contract as a form of convergence. This is especially true of international organizations with the supranational nature of a legal character. Here we are talking about international organizations of the integrative type, which have special powers: to create uniform supranational bodies (including judicial) and uniform legislation; issue legally binding acts; limit some of the sovereign rights of member states with the consent of the latter.

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