Regime Complexity and a Galvanizing Idea: Development Goals and IGO Coordination

• In Event: Navigating Institutional Complexity in World Politics

Abstract

When rules and institutions governing specific issue areas overlap, cooperation and
coordination may be enhanced or competition may ensue, or competition may lead to a
coordinated division of labor. Most explanations for regime complexity outcomes focus on state
interests and decision-making; far less attention has been given to intergovernmental
organization agency or the role of ideas in fostering cooperation. This paper examines how the
emergence of shared development goals prompted increased coordination among
intergovernmental organizations by providing a framework for action and interaction on
international development as well as new resources. In examining the coordination efforts since
2000 of the largest multilateral aid donors - the European Union, the United Nations, and the
World Bank – it finds that shared ideas, enhanced attention to aid effectiveness, and expanded
resources galvanized cooperation among existing institutions but paradoxically also led to a
proliferation of institutions.

Author

• Melanie H. Ram, California State University, Fresno