Advocacy and change in international organizations: communication, protection, and reconstruction in UN peacekeeping
In: Oxford scholarship online
In: Political Science
How do international organisations change? Many organisations expand into new areas or abandon programmes of work. This book argues that they do so not only at the collective direction of member states. Advocacy is a crucial but overlooked source of change in international organisations. Different actors can advocate for change: national diplomats, international bureaucrats, external experts, or civil society activists. They can use one of three advocacy strategies: social pressure, persuasion, and 'authority talk'. The success of each strategy depends on the presence of favourable conditions related to characteristics of advocates, targets, issues, and context. Institutionalization of new issues in international organisations as a multi-stage process, often accompanied by contestation.