Theorizing Decision-Making in International Bureaucracies

UN Peacekeeping Operations and Responses to Norm Violations

Bibliographic Data

ID7302007
AuthorsKseniya Oksamytna (0000-0001-7725-3151, City, University of London), Oisín Tansey (0000-0002-8883-7336, King's College London), Sarah Von Billerbeck (0000-0003-0154-1944, University of Reading), Birte Julia Gippert (0000-0002-7960-4725, University of Liverpool)
Year2023
Volume67
Issue4
Publication date2023-09-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8833 • E-ISSN: 1468-2478
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/isq/sqad099
OpenAlexW4389161012
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited74

Many international organizations (IOs) provide assistance to governments through country offices or peacekeeping operations. Sometimes, government authorities in countries receiving IO services violate norms that underpin the IO’s engagement. IO officials must then choose between confrontational and conciliatory responses. These responses are located on a spectrum that ranges from a firm and public response to silence and downplaying. How do IO officials decide on their response? Based on over 200 interviews with UN peacekeeping officials, we argue that the factors that shape their decision-making are found across three categories: individual, departmental, and positional. In terms of individual characteristics, previous experience, career security, and the length of service at a particular duty station matter. Regarding departmental factors, politicization of work, professional composition, and the type of interlocutors predispose departments to be supporters or critics of authorities in recipient countries. In terms of positional considerations, the place of a post or department in the IO hierarchy, relations with other IO entities, and the distance from the field play a role. While important in its own right, decision-making by civilian UN peacekeeping officials is informative about similar processes in other complex international bureaucracies that employ individuals from diverse backgrounds

Bureaucracy · Duty · Government (linguistics · Hierarchy · Norm (philosophy · Peacekeeping · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Silence · Sociology · Work (physics · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration