Memory in International Organizations: Call for a New Research Agenda

• In Event: New Frontiers in the Study of International Organizations

Abstract

The field of international relations has transformed from an area asking whether international organizations matter into the current body of literature that focuses on when and how they matter. Often our answers revolve around the functions of international organizations, most notably tasks of information provision, communication, coordination, and monitoring and enforcement. While fulfilling these functions, international organizations rely on past decisions and experiences. Yet, we have a gaping hole in our research when it comes to organizational memory. Despite a vast literature in organization science, business administration, sociology, and public administration, political science and international relations lack a basic conceptualization of memory in international organizations. In this introductory paper, I review the organizational memory and learning literatures, propose ways to adapt their research questions and methods to international organizations, and propose a research agenda. I evaluate the applicability of empirical methods that tackle with operationalization of memory, including staff surveys, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis. As a preliminary example, I examine the citations of United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank publications. The hypothesis I test here is that staff members of an institution with a more “efficient” system of organizational memory will use publications of their own institutions more often than others do. Even though this is an indirect measure of memory access in international organizations, it serves to my aim to start a discussion in the field, which will produce better measures in the future.

Author

• Burcu Ucaray-Mangitli, Georg August University Goettingen