Legal Characteristics of International Organizations

American Bar Foundation, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

International organizations (IOs) are institutions formed by multiple states to pursue commons tasks under international law. They have become a central feature of global governance, providing means for states to cooperate on trans-border issues ranging from river management to climate change. Examples range from the United Nations and European Union to small organizations like the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific. Despite the vast range of activities pursued by these organizations, there is little understanding of their internal governance features. Furthermore, in a world of rising authoritarianism, it is important to understand how non-democracies are using this form to advance their own collective projects. This research project will code a comprehensive global sample of IO charters, which are the legal documents that create the organizations. This will allow the researcher to identify and analyze key characteristics, such as voting rules, budget processes, immunities, secretariat powers, and systems of dispute resolution, in a comprehensive way. These data will allow scholars to understand whether and how authoritarian-dominated IOs are systematically different from those created by and for democratic countries. Besides scholarly research outputs, the project will produce a public-facing web interface for the charters, which will provide a valuable resource for scholars, legal professionals in the field, and the public. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.