Social Actors and Sovereignty in IGOs

Abstract

The growing challenge to the authority of IGOs is the backlash of the legitimacy crisis currently affecting states, which are increasingly perceived as being unable to deal with major economic, ecological, social, and cultural policy issues. This weakens the IGOs although in fact they offer a possible solution insofar as they are forums and instruments of regional and world governance. One essential condition, however, if this solution is to be realistic and democratic, is that actors representing civil society, not only NGOs but also private‐sector actors (enterprises), should participate. After the economic and ecological protest movements, cultural demands are now growing stronger and constitute a major challenge for UNESCO. Can that organisation, within a relatively short time, identify the cultural actors whose interaction is vital if cultural diversity and individual cultural rights are to be respected? Can it give them their rightful place in its bodies? It is by focusing on this institutional objective and on the communication of knowledge that it can move away from an overly state‐oriented approach.

Perspektywa neoinstytucjonalna w badaniach nad przemianami szkolnictwa wyższego w Polsce

“…Dotyczy to zwłaszcza Międzynarodowego Funduszu Walutowego (MFW), Banku Światowego (BŚ) czy OECD (Organizacja Współpracy Europejskiej i Rozwoju), które według wielu badaczy (np. Meyer-Bisch, 2001) nie tylko współtworzą ład społeczno-ekonomiczny poszczególnych państw, ale także wpływają na kierunki prowadzonych przez nie polityk za pomocą instrumentów finansowych (pożyczki) lub wywierając na rządy (ekspercką) presję. Neoinstytucjonaliści dowodzą, że działanie procesów transnarodowych wspieranych przez transnarodowe organizacje prowadzi do strukturalnej homogeniczności pomiędzy krajami (Abott i DeViney 1992;Meyer, Ramirez i Soysal 1992;Ramirez i Weiss 1979;Strang 1990), co dotyczy zwłaszcza dziedziny edukacji (Meyer 1977;Ramirez i Meyer 1980;Chabbott i Ramirez 2000;Goldman 2001;Meyer, Frank, Hironka, Schofer i Tuma 1997), nauki (Drori 1998), ochrony środowiska (Frank, Hironka i Scho-fer 2000;Goldman 2001;Meyer i in.…”

Forum Shopping in Global Governance: Understanding States, Business and NGOs in Multiple Arenas

“…International institutions can actively seek to build legitimacy by selecting and engaging with particular NGOs, in other words, forums shopping for participants. Myer‐Bisch (2001) touches upon this in asking whether the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) can succeed in identifying appropriate NGOs whose participation might boost UNESCO’s legitimacy and capacity as an instrument of world governance. Alter and Meunier (2009, p. 18) view the roles of nonstate actors more benignly, simply stating that institutional complexity ‘can create a heightened role for informers – experts, lawyers, and NGOs – which help states manage rule and institutional confusion’.…”

“…2 2 But see Helfer, 1999, 2004, 2009; Meyer‐Bisch, 2001; Braithwaite and Drahos, 2000; Guiraudon, 2000; Lachowski, 1998; Sheingate, 2000; Damro, 2006; Smythe, 1998; Wendon, 1998. …”