Lecture 1:

30.10.2022
Conceptualization of International Institutions
What are International Institutions?
• The foundation of these types of organizations was built in ancient
times, but did not appear until the 19th century.
• Over the course of the last few decades, the term international
institution has been used to refer a broad range of phenomena.
• In the early post-war years, these words almost always referred to
formal International Organizations, usually to organs or branches of
the United Nations system.
• The events of the 1970s encouraged scholars to theorize international
governance more broadly (Regime).
• The definition led to some debates- what exactly counted as a “norm”
or a “rule.
• This was criticized yet important to understand institutions broadly.
Definition
• Due to such definitional confusion that scholars in the 1990s sought a
simpler conception as well as a new label- Institutions.
• “International institutions” as sets of rules meant to govern
international behavior.
• John Mearsheimer provides a useful definition of institutions as ‘sets
of rules that stipulate the ways in which states should cooperate and
compete with each other’.
• Institutions are viewed as explicitly normative- they specify what
states should do.
What are International Organizations?
• It’s a subfield of International Relations which is quite old and still widening.
• Although ‘international regime’ and ‘international institution’ became broader
terms
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• The term international, thought to be the creation of Jeremy Bentham, is often
seen as a misnomer.
• Instead, it is claimed, the term ‘interstate’ or ‘intergovernmental’ should be
used when describing an activity– conducted between two sovereign states
and their governmental representatives (transnational relations).
• It is no longer used synonymously with ‘intergovernmental’ to mean
‘interstate’ or relations between the official representatives of sovereign
states. Instead, the term has come to include activities between individuals
and groups in one state and individuals and groups in another state, as well as
intergovernmental relations.
• One form of the organization of international relations can be seen in
institutions – ‘the collective forms or basic structures of social
organization as established by law or by human tradition’
• An international organization in this context represents a form of
institution that refers to a formal system of rules and objectives, a
rationalized administrative instrument and which has ‘a formal
technical and material organization: constitutions, local chapters,
physical equipment, machines, emblems, letterhead stationery, a staff,
an administrative hierarchy and so forth’ (Duverger 1972: 68)
• Inis Claude (1964: 4) makes the following distinction: ‘International
organization is a process; international organizations are
representative aspects of the phase of that process which has been
reached at a given time.’
• Some writers confusingly refer to such international organizations as
international institutions; reference is also often made to ‘the
institutions’ of an organization, such as its assembly, council and
secretarial. This use of ‘institutions’ to refer to the detailed structure of
an international organization or as a synonym for international
organizations is more restricted than the sociological meaning of the
word.
What are the differences between International
Organizations and International Institutions
International Institutions International Organizations

Sets of rules that stipulate the The collective forms or basic

ways in which states should structures of social organization as
cooperate and compete with each established by law or by human
other tradition
• While we recognize the distinction between institutions and
organizations, many of our arguments apply to both.
• In the actual practice of research, the distinction between institutions
and organizations is usually of secondary importance.