People who run African affairs
Staffing and recruitment in the African Union Commission
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4252801 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Kwasi Tieku (0000-0002-8452-2118, Western University, corresponding author), Stefan Gänzle (0000-0002-9421-109X, University of Agder, corresponding author), Jarle Trondal (0000-0002-6723-7761, University of Oslo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 461-481 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Modern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-278X • E-ISSN: 1469-7777 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022278x20000270 |
| OpenAlex | W3108403611 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 43 |
This study contributes to the field of International Public Administration (IPA) and the emerging area of Informal International Relations (IIR) by examining the politics of staffing and recruitment of the African Union Commission (AUC). Although the AUC has become a major political player in international affairs, there is a dearth of knowledge about the civil servants who work for the AUC and who run this paramount pan-African executive body. To address the void, this paper draws on a survey of 137 AUC staff, archival studies and interviews to explore recruitment of AUC staff. Combining organisational theory and informality as analytical lenses, the study demonstrates that, first, many informal international practices (IIPs) are embedded in AUC recruitment processes. Second, the AUC is composed largely of short-term, contracted staff. Finally, it shows that the AUC is dependent on lower-ranked personnel or that it is bottom-heavy. Many of these lower-ranked officials are intimately involved in the making of AUC policies and decisions, putting into question the assumption in existing scholarship that decision-makers of IOs are primarily reliant on top-ranked A-level officials (senior management
Administration (probate law) · Civil servants · Commission · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Staffing · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Development and Aid · Peacebuilding and International Security · Public Administration
Pan-African gender governance
International Organizations and the Management of Regime Complexity
Analyzing the African Continental Free Trade Area (the AfCFTA) from an Informality Perspective
Exploring Communities of Practice from an Informality Perspective
The Agency of the Global South’s Regional Organizations through the Institutionalization of Staff Recruitment
The organisational dimension of executive authority in the Global South
The behavioural logics of international public servants
Punching above Weight
Organizations and organization theory
Jean Monnet
Europe in Search of Political Order
The European Commission of the Twenty-First Century
Governing through Institution Building
Careers in and out of Organizations
Organizations and Organizing
The Civil Service in the 21st Century
Political Legitimacy for Public Administration
Time to React
The (Ir)relevance of the Office of the Chair of the African Union Commission
The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance as a Justiciable Instrument
The Status and Legitimacy of Popular Uprisings in the AU Norms on Democracy and Constitutional Governance
The European Public Servant
From States to Secretariats
Ruling from the Shadows
Global Governance and the Democratic Deficit
Representative bureaucracy, international organizations and public service bargains
An organizational approach to public governance
Contracted Government
Bureaucratic Representation and the Rejection Hypothesis
The Rise of European Administrative Space
Why Comply? Social Learning and European Identity Change
The Compound Machinery of Government
The many faces of EU committee governance
The Merit of Meritocratization
Advances to the study of international public administration
International organizations as teachers of norms
The Sage Handbook of Public Administration
Africa's New Peace and Security Architecture
A Pan-African View of a New Agenda for Peace
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union
The African Union as a norm entrepreneur on military coups d'état in Africa (1952-2012)
Where Regional Norms Matter
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |