Central and Eastern Europe and the Decline of Russia in the United Nations Administrative Bodies

Pařízek, Michal; Ananyeva, Ekaterina

doi:10.32422/mv.1615

Cited by 2 publications

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“…In fact, OECD members accounted for nine of the ten biggest losers of relative representation in the professional staff in the UN system. However, by far the biggest loser was Russia, losing around 40 percent of its staff share (see also Parizek and Ananyeva, 2019). Moreover, while a perspective oriented toward state power might expect that the major gainers would be the rising powers, the major winners appear to be low-income countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while several other developed countries (such as Spain and Italy) have also done well.…”

Section: Representative Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015

Pařízek

Stephen

2020

International Studies Quarterly

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Although international organizations (IOs) and their secretariats play important roles in international politics, we know surprisingly little about their staffing composition and the factors that shape it. What accounts for the national composition of the secretariats of IOs? We theorize that the national composition of international secretariats is shaped by three factors: the desire by powerful states for institutional control, a commonly shared interest in a secretariat's functional effectiveness, and, increasingly, a need for secretariats to be seen as legitimate by being representative of the global population. Building on recent constructivist literature, we argue that IOs face increasing normative pressure to be representative in their staffing patterns. Using panel regression, we assess our argument with a new dataset covering states’ representation in the secretariats of thirty-five United Nations system bodies from 1997 to 2015. The results indicate that while functional effectiveness plays a significant and stable role, international secretariats have become increasingly representative of the global population. Moreover, this has come primarily at the expense of the over-representation of powerful states. This shift from power to representation is particularly strong in large IOs with high political and societal visibility. When it comes to IO secretariats, representativeness (increasingly) matters.

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Section: Representative Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015

Pařízek

Stephen

2020

International Studies Quarterly

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“…Russia stands out as the BRIC country with the least staff representation at both the IMF and WTO, despite modest growth in both, and the second-lowest number of staff in the UN System. Russia’s share of staff at the UN has more than halved in the last 2 decades (see also Parizek and Ananyeva, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 12 Our data sources, described later, do not allow the tracing of positions across the levels of hierarchy of the IOs’ bureaucracies. A recent study has argued, however, that where data is available, evidence suggests there are no systematic differences in the staffing patterns across the hierarchy levels (Parizek and Stephen, 2019). …”

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confidence: 99%

The long march through the institutions: Emerging powers and the staffing of international organizations

Pařízek¹,

Stephen²

2020

Cooperation and Conflict

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How successful have emerging powers been at increasing their representation within the secretariats of international organizations (IOs)? We examine the representation of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN) System, including the UN Secretariat, over the last two decades. The analysis reveals four major findings. First, some redistribution of staff positions from established to emerging powers has taken place, but it has been relatively minor. Second, nationals from emerging powers are still strongly under-represented in international secretariats in comparison with those from established powers. Third, emerging powers’ representation at the IMF and WTO increased more than in the UN, where it actually declined. Fourth, there is strong variation between emerging powers: India appears to be the most successful emerging power in sending its nationals to the secretariats of IOs, Brazil’s and China’s records are mixed, and Russia has fared poorly. We interpret our findings in light of international relations theories and theories of institutional path dependence. The results suggest that staffing patterns are only loosely related to shifts in economic size and are subject to strong independent institutional dynamics.

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Central and Eastern Europe and the Decline of Russia in the United Nations Administrative Bodies

Cited by 2 publications

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The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015

The Increasing Representativeness of International Organizations’ Secretariats: Evidence from the United Nations System, 1997–2015

The long march through the institutions: Emerging powers and the staffing of international organizations

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