The Politics of International Organizations Views from insiders [Hardcover]

International organisations (IOs) often receive a bad press, seen as intrusive, domineering and unresponsive to the needs of the people and countries they are meant to serve. The best way to understand the operation of these international organisations is to bring together those who represent their countries at IOs and those who have been working at IOs at various capacities and then to listen to their experiences.

This book develops an alternative approach to the analysis of IOs that takes account of all those involved, whether state representatives, IO leaders and members of the secretariat. Experts with long experience in the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, WIPO, the FAO and the WHO at senior level consider the workings of the IOs, and a conclusion that explicitly draws out the comparative lessons and contrasts the insights of practitioners from those of external observers. This book takes an alternative approach to the analysis of IOs that takes account of all those involved, whether state representatives, IO leaders and members of the secretariat.

Providing a well-informed, innovative and consistently structured analysis of IOs this work will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, international organizations and global governance.

Introduction: Understanding the governance of international organizations Xu Yi-chong and Patrick Weller  1. The World Trade Organization as an institution Stuart Harbison Comment: Weak organization, strong institution John Ravenhill  2. Reform at the World Bank Jim Adams Comment 1: The World Bank Chrik Poortman Comment 2: Reform at the World Bankplus ?a change? Susan Park  3. Governance at work at the International Monetary Fund Luc Hubloue and Orasa Vongthieres Comment 1: IMF governance and decision-making processelc