The contributions to this special issue of the Global Policy Journal highlight critical issues in the study of Resourcing International Organizations (IOs), including resource diversification, the complexity of related actor constellations, and organizational differentiation that goes hand in hand with resource diversification. The findings documented in the contributions reveal how IOs seek to obtain and allocate funds, and how resourcing-related concerns pervade their organizations. It also illustrates the value-added of an approach to the study of IOs that hones in on their administrations, their capacity for strategic action and their inter-connectedness, in short, an ‘administrative governance perspective’. The central message is that IO resourcing matters both practically and analytically. Global Policy Forum contributed to this special issue an article on Private Funding and Corporate Influence in the United Nations.
August 31, 2017 | Global Policy
Philanthrolateralism: Private Funding and Corporate Influence in the United Nations
by Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz
The United Nations (UN) is embarking on a new era of selective multilateralism, shaped by intergovernmental policy impasses and a growing reliance on corporate-led solutions to global problems. Multiple partnerships between corporations, philanthropic foundations and the UN have been established in recent years. Private funding from corporations and philanthropic foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for UN activities has increased steadily. The changes in funding practices have deep implications for global governance. Private funding runs the risk of turning UN agencies, funds and programmes into contractors for bilateral or public-private projects, eroding the multilateral character of the system and undermining democratic global governance.
Read the full article here.
Special Issue Articles
Klaus H. Goetz and Ronny Patz - Resourcing International Organizations: Resource Diversification, Organizational Differentiation, and Administrative Governance
Erin R. Graham - Follow the Money: How Trends in Financing Are Changing Governance at International Organizations
Andreas Bergmann and Sandro Fuchs - Accounting Standards for Complex Resources of International Organizations
Stephen Browne - Vertical Funds: New Forms of Multilateralism
Karolin Seitz and Jens Martens - Philanthrolateralism: Private Funding and Corporate Influence in the United Nations
Eugénia Heldt and Henning Schmidtke - Measuring the Empowerment of International Organizations: The Evolution of Financial and Staff Capabilities
Theresa Squatrito - Resourcing Global Justice: The Resource Management Design of International Courts
Jörn Ege and Michael W. Bauer - How Financial Resources Affect the Autonomy of International Public Administrations
Bernhard Reinsberg -Trust Funds as a Lever of Influence at International Development Organizations
Klaus Hüfner - The Financial Crisis of UNESCO after 2011: Political Reactions and Organizational Consequences
Steffen Eckhard and Hylke Dijkstra - Contested Implementation: The Unilateral Influence of Member States on Peacebuilding Policy in Kosovo
Katharina Michaelowa - Resourcing International Organisations: So What?
Read the special issue here.
