Suchergebnisse

The way in which international actors formulate proposals for reforming or establishing public social policies not only varies between different organisations but is also dependent on the policy field in question. This article compares the positions of two international organisations (IOs), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), on the two related social policy fields of health and long-term care in Latin America. We apply qualitative document analysis to reports and strategy articles published by ECLAC and PAHO between 2000 and 2015. The analysis finds that despite some similar proposals by both organisations, there are also clear differences between their positions depending on the policy areas. While both organisations see the need to establish healthcare and long-term care as a human right, they have different ideas on targeted and universal approaches. Moreover, with long-term care as a new and emerging policy field, there is still much more variation in how the IOs address the topic, while proposals on healthcare are shaped by previous debates at international and regional levels.

For decades, the world's smallest states – the structurally weakest members of the multilateral system – have been considered incapable of influencing international organisations (IOs). So, why has the label small state risen to prominence over the last two decades and become institutionalised as a formal grouping in multiple IOs? Drawing on more than eighty in-depth interviews, we explain the rise of Small Island Developing States in the United Nations system, the expansion of their agenda to the Small and Vulnerable Economies group at the World Trade Organization, and then to other IOs. The adoption of the labels is evidence of small state norm diffusion. We identify the competent performance of vulnerability within multilateral settings as the key to explaining this norm emergence and diffusion. The lesson is that diffusion 'from below' is not always driven by a desire to increase rank. In this case small states have gained benefits by maintaining a lowly position in a hierarchy in which large is stronger than small.

Dieser Band weist nach, daß Organisationen nicht beliebig veränderbar sind. Ihre Strukturen und "geheimen" Regeln sind tief in der jeweiligen Gesellschaft und Kultur verankert. Auf die Rolle von Frauen in Organisationen trifft dies ebenso zu wie auf die Fragen von Macht und Hierarchie und auf die Beteiligung der Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter an Veränderungsprozessen. Werden diese "Wurzeln" nicht beachtet, so entsteht entweder massiver Widerstand, oder die neu eingepflanzten Ideen und Systeme sterben ab, weil sie nicht den geeigneten Nährboden vorfinden, um gedeihen zu können. Die Autoren liefern praxiserprobte Konzepte und Werkzeuge, um Organisationen in den unterschiedlichsten Kulturen zu verstehen und mit den in ihnen arbeitenden Menschen Veränderungen zu planen.