The local lives of international organizations: towards a research agenda on international organizations “in the field”

Abstract

International organization (IO) studies exhibit a curious blind spot: They rarely theorize or investigate empirically what IOs do and effect “in the field.” Since IO research from rational-choice and constructivist traditions largely focuses on IO-state relations and bureaucratic politics at headquarters, the operational stage of global governance is rarely conceptually accounted for as a policymaking arena and a constitutive element of IOs. In this analytical essay, we map pathways towards a new research agenda on IOs that takes “the field” seriously. We argue and show that studying IOs from a field perspective requires rethinking the sites and boundaries of IOs, drawing analytical attention to previously neglected actors, interests, practices, and logics of action. In developing this argument, we build on two established strands of research: First, studies on street-level bureaucracy and transnational professionals, which investigate everyday decision-making by regular staff members. Second, research on the anthropology of development and peacebuilding, which highlights social, meaning-making processes in concrete, local settings. We connect their insights to established literatures on IOs around three conceptual “docking stations”: agency, change, and authority. We conclude by sketching a taxonomy with three avenues for future research on organizational structures and cultures, policies and procedures, as well as power and legitimacy. This shift in perspective unlocks new empirical research fields and extends conceptual and methodological approaches of IO studies, building the ground for an emerging field of study in International Relations that will allow us to fully understand IOs through the drivers, dynamics, and consequences of their local lives.