A QCA Analysis of International Public Administration Influence Strategies

• In Event: International Bureaucrats: Representation, Agency and Power in Global Governance

Abstract

The paper investigates how international secretariats influence policymaking within their respective International Organizations (IOs). Starting from a conception of IOs as political-administrative systems, we theorize the strategies international bureaucrats may use to affect IO policies and we specify the conditions under which these strategies vary. Using extensive face-to-face interviews with international civil servants (n=100+), we trace and reconstruct 24 cases of internal decision-making processes in 4 international organizations (FAO, WHO, ILO, UNESCO). Conducting a QCA analysis based on our empirical data, we clarify systematically under which conditions successful policy influence by international secretariats takes place and which “strategies” pursued by international bureaucrats are most effective to influence organizational policy output. The study shows how and when international bureaucracies exert policy influence and offers new opportunities to extend the generalizability of Public Administration theories.

Authors

• Michael W. Bauer, European University Institute

• Joern Ege, German Research Institute for Public Administration Speyer