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This article addresses the puzzle of why, and under what conditions, international organisations cease to exist. International Relations literature offers rich explanations for the creation, design and effectiveness of international institutions and their organisational embodiments, international organizations (IOs), but surprisingly little effort has gone into studying the dynamics of IO termination. Yet if we want to understand the conditions under which international organisations endure, we must also explain why they frequently fail to do so. The article formulates and tests a theory of 'IO death' using a combination of population-wide statistical analysis and detailed historical case studies. My analysis is based on an original dataset covering the period 1815–2016. I find that exogenous shocks are a leading proximate cause of IO terminations since 1815 and that organisations that are newly created, have small memberships, and/or lack centralised structures are most likely to succumb. My analysis leads me to suggest a number of extensions and refinements to existing institutionalist theories.

This article addresses the puzzle of why, and under what conditions, international organisations cease to exist. International Relations literature offers rich explanations for the creation, design and effectiveness of international institutions and their organisational embodiments, international organizations (IOs), but surprisingly little effort has gone into studying the dynamics of IO termination. Yet if we want to understand the conditions under which international organisations endure, we must also explain why they frequently fail to do so. The article formulates and tests a theory of 'IO death' using a combination of population-wide statistical analysis and detailed historical case studies. My analysis is based on an original dataset covering the period 1815–2016. I find that exogenous shocks are a leading proximate cause of IO terminations since 1815 and that organisations that are newly created, have small memberships, and/or lack centralised structures are most likely to succumb. My analysis leads me to suggest a number of extensions and refinements to existing institutionalist theories.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization held its 112th session at Geneva from June 2 to 30, 1950. During consideration of an agenda of 22 items, the Governing Body completed the membership of the fact-finding and conciliation commission on freedom of association, decided to establish an ad hoc committee of five or six persons having experience in the field of occupational safetyand health to be appointed by the Director-General in consultation with officers of the Governing Body, and authorized the Director-General (Morse) to communicate the report of the Third International Pneumoconiosis Conference held at Sydney in February and March 1950 to the United Nations Secretary-General and the Director-General of the World Health Organization. The Governing Body also convened a meeting of experts to study the status and conditions of employment of domestic workers, authorized the Director-General to communicate to governments the reports, resolutions and memoranda adopted by the second session of the Chemical Industries Committee, accepted an invitation from the government of the United States of Indonesia to hold the first session of the Committee on Work in Plantations in Indonesia in December 1950, and appointed members of the Governing Body delegates to the third session of the Petroleum Committee to be held in Geneva in October and November. Other action taken by the Governing Body included acceptance of the invitation of the French government to hold the third session of the Textiles Committee in Lyons from November 28 to December 9, 1950, approved the general lines of a program of technical assistance ILO could undertake in the manpower field, noted that ILO had $2,500,000 at its disposal for its technical assistance activities, and accepted an offer by states members of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation which were also members of ILO to make available to ILO $998,000 for establishment of a special fund to finance additional action in the field of migration.

The fifth session of the IRO Council which met in Geneva during March 1950 decided upon the maintenance and care of displaced persons who were to be resettled before March 31, 1951. The termination date of IRO activities was to be carried on beyond the former termination date of June 30, 1950 set by the Council. The Director-General, J. Donald Kingsley, was instructed to request the Allied High Commission in Germany to contribute to the cost of the additional program out of Deutschemark funds. The Council voted that the International Tracing Service, an activity of IRO, also was to be continued beyond June 30, 1950, but that the Director-General was to arrange a transfer of this service to the High Commission in Germany before March 31, 1951. The sixth session of the General Council was to meet in Geneva in October.