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International audience ; Narrative theory has gained prominence especially as a companion to social construction of reality In matters of regulation and normalization, narratives socially and culturallyconstruct relevant contingencies, uncertainties, values, and decision. Here, decision dynamics pit risk generators, bearers, bearers' advocates, arbiters, researchers and informers as advocates and counter advocates (Palmlund, 2009). the decision-relevant narrative components (actors, themes, scenes, plots and scripts) are ripe with normative implications since competing narratives create worldviews that prescribe means for making sense of experience and resolving conflicts (Heath, 1994). As will be discussed in this paper, competing narratives of risk assessment and the distribution of harms and benefits offer vital insights to conflicts concerning the efficacy and safety of biotechnology applications as social drama. the tensions of this drama arise from battles over how safe is safe enough (Fischhoff, Slovic, lichtenstein, read & Combs, 1978), and how fair is safe enough (rayner & Cantor, 1987). one set of norms prescribe and guide the functions and structures of conflict resolution: how advocates of competing perspectives engage to resolve conflict through decision-making infrastructures. A second cluster of norms centers on the logics of risk-centric decisions: the gathering and vetting of evidence, the application of premises, and the evaluation of solutions, whether more aggressive or cautious in the face of uncertainties. risks attached to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are such that sensemaking capacities based on uncontestable and ample facts are scarce; scientific evidences and political interpretations that construct norms can contradict each other. In the conflict process, broad scientific and policy communities (" sound science " and " precautionary " advocates) compete to normalize this uncertainty by imbricating knowledge in larger cultural plots (Douglas, 1992). international GMO ...

This article addresses a significant gap in the literature on legitimacy in global governance, exploring whether, in what ways, and to what extent institutional qualities of international organisations (IOs) matter for popular legitimacy beliefs towards these bodies. The study assesses the causal significance of procedure and performance as sources of legitimacy, unpacks these dimensions into specific institutional qualities, and offers a comparative analysis across IOs in three issue areas of global governance. Theoretically, the article disaggregates institutional sources of legitimacy to consider democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of procedure and performance. Empirically, it examines the effects of these institutional qualities through a population-based survey experiment in four countries in different world regions with respect to IOs in economic, security, and climate governance. The findings demonstrate that both procedure- and performance-related aspects of IO policymaking matter for popular legitimacy beliefs. This result holds across democratic, technocratic, and fair qualities of IO procedure and performance. Disaggregating the results by issue area indicates that a broader scope of institutional qualities are important for legitimacy beliefs in economic governance compared to security governance and, especially, climate governance. These findings suggest that propositions to reduce the institutional sources of IO legitimacy to single specific qualities would be misguided.

The overall topic of this thesis is the English School understanding of international order, which I approach specifically by analysing the English School idea of international institutions and their change. The purpose is to develop the theory in a meta-theoretically conscious and coherent way. The three essays in this volume are independent in relation to each other, yet in some ways cumulative. Essays I and II aim to address primarily the question of how to conceptualise the current international order of multilateralism and international organisations. Essay I uses the empirical issue of UN reform to formulate one English School conceptualisation of international order, building specifically on the School's central theme of international institutions. Essay II theoretically develops the tools of the English School for capturing how international institutions, according to English School theory the fundaments of international order, might change. Essay III approaches the meta-theoretical question of how change itself is understood in the English School, and how different theoretical readings of what we might mean by change give rise to different approaches to the normative question of what might be improvement in the international order. I argue that an internally coherent understanding of change in international society should emphasise change in institutions, made intelligible by ex-post narratives which contribute to establishing the discursive connection between practices and their normative legitimation, and guided by a sustained normative debate on the nature of improvement. This understanding of change signifies a much-needed addition to the English School toolbox, and brings a promise of a meta-theoretical grounding of the theory. In addition, it opens for similar theoretical inquiries into other IR theories.

This dissertation addresses the difficulties encountered in international relations between Russia and the West, specifically Europe, in spite of their cultural and geographical proximity and the expectation that Russia and Europe would share values and interests following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The problem is addressed through focussing on a particular aspect of Russia s national and state identity greatpowerness . Greatpowerness - the self-perception that Russia always has been and still is a great power - is a significant part of Russia s self identity. The effects of Russian greatpowerness are examined through investigation of Russia s relations with three European international organisations the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe from the early 1990s through to 2004. The particular issue through which these relationships are explored are the two Chechen wars of 1994-1996 and 2000-2004. Russian actions in Chechnya provoked frequent criticisms from the West, but were seen in Russia in the 1990s as an internal matter, and as part of the international war on terrorism in the 2000s. In both cases, they reflected in part Russia s great power aspirations. There were particular sets of expectations from the Russian side based on its self-perception in each case. It is argued in the dissertation that this plays a part in understanding the difficulties and apparent inconsistencies encountered in Russia s relationship with the West. The dissertation contributes to explaining inconsistencies in Russian foreign policy behaviour towards the West which are not adequately accounted for by existing empirical and theoretical approaches. It begins with a discussion of definitions of being a Great Power and understandings of greatpowerness as an issue of self-perception in state identity. It then looks at Russian understandings of international relations, different Russian foreign policy schools and a series of factors which are persistent in Russian greatpowerness: sovereignty, ressentiment, isolationism, expansionism, imperialism, multilaterism and multipolarity. Next it sets the course of the two Chechen wars in the context of Russian political and international development. The main empirical section of the dissertation is taken up by the three case studies of the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, noting similarities and distinctions in each case as to how Russia experienced interaction with the three different organisations. The Council of Europe has adopted a rather pragmatic approach in its cooperation with Russia and hence, in spite of some difficulties, the relationship has been the best of the three. This cooperation has challenged Russian greatpowerness the least and expectations came closest to outcomes. Cooperation with the EU has been of a different nature since Russia is not a member state. Here the relationship has had good and bad periods, which have very much depended on how Russia has felt about its level of expectations met by outcomes. The Russian relationship to the OSCE was also full of ups and downs always with strongly power political reasons. Russian expectations were highest in regards to the OSCE. However it challenged Russian greatpowerness most and caused biggest disappointment. In conclusion, it is shown that Russian self-perception of greatpowerness and the aspiration to have its status as a Great Power recognised internationally provides one part of the explanation of the apparent inconsistencies while showing a form of consistency in Russia s relationship with the West.

How do international organisations (IOs) influence domestic policymaking? In the field of educational policy, IOs increasingly play an important role in shaping national debates and policies. Comparative studies as conducted by the OECD, for example, reveal strengths and weaknesses of individual educational systems and raise questions of "best practice". International initiatives such as the EU's Bologna Process even compel national policy makers to restructure their systems in such a way that students and staff will be able to move with more ease between systems and receive fair recognition of their qualifications in the near future. The aim of this study is to explore the forms of governance through which international organisations exercise influence on national policymaking. For this purpose, the EU and the OECD serve as case studies since these two organisations have recently been particularly active players in educational policy. Drawing on institutionalist approaches, an analytic grid will be designed in this study for systematically investigating the forms of governance as exercised by international organisations. The findings show that IOs have the most capacities to form and guide national policymaking through their distinctive ability to co-ordinate initiatives and to shape the ideas in a policy field, such as education.

The term 'decentralisation' has generally been used to refer to a variety of institutional reforms. It has sometimes been considered as a change in the organisational framework in which political, social and economic decisions are made and implemented. It is also understood as a mechanism to transfer responsibility and authority. In recent years, decentralisation has received singular attention all over the world. It has been considered as one of the most important elements in development strategy. It is a global and regional phenomenon, and most countries have attempted to implement it as a tool for development, as a political philosophy, and as a mechanism for sharing responsibility at different levels.Since 1980s, developing countries have increasingly adopted decentralised form of governance. Decentralisation means the transfer of authority and responsibility from central to intermediate and local governments. Although the democratic decentralisation in terms of Panchayati Raj Institutions (village councils) was a post-Independence phenomenon, there has been a legacy and tradition of village panchayats since time immemorial in India. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Act, 1993 of the Constitution of India has made the Panchayat an institution of self-government. As per the constitution, Panchayats shall prepare plan for economic development and social justice at their level. The District Planning Committee shall integrate the plan so prepared with the plans prepared by the local bodies at district level. The success and failure of the Panchayats would depend on planning and implementation. It also depends on maximum people's participation at every stage of planning process, from proposal to implementation. People's participation in local-level development has been exercised through the formulation of the Panchayat-level development plan, project coordination at intermediate and district levels of the Panchayats.The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in West Bengal are very strong bodies, which function as real institutions of self-governance. In West Bengal, the planning process of grass-root level has some stages from proposal to implementation. After introduction of 3-tier Panchayat system in 1978, the Government of West Bengal brought about need-based reforms in the system from time to time from the very beginning. Encouraged by the State Government's strong commitment to rural decentralisation, Department for International Development (DFID), Government of UK came forward to support the ongoing rural decentralisation initiatives and upscale the bottom-up planning process. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the role of DFID for strengthening decentralisation in rural Bengal.

The formulation of a distinctive and visible profile on the international stage is one of the central, challenging issues that the European Union has faced over recent decades. Developing this profile is essentially determined by (a) how the EU negotiates in diverse international contexts and (b) what are the outcomes of these negotiations. This paper aims to unravel the negotiating approach the EU follows in different circumstances. To do so, we employ an inductive approach, examining the EU's negotiating behaviour in: (a) the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and (b) the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The case-studies pertain to the EU's involvement in international human rights negotiations, thus offering valuable input both to the specific literature and to the literature on the EU's international performance. We propose an ex post theoretical framework on the EU negotiating tactics in the United Nations (UN), identifying the factors and the parameters which condition its negotiating strategy and its international performance.

«Harmony must dominate the world». Mit diesem Motto rief der australische Friedensaktivist Alfred E. Evershed Mitte der 1930er Jahre alle musikalischen Menschen dazu auf, sich einer globalen Harmoniekampagne anzuschliessen und auf diese Weise einen Beitrag zum Frieden in der Welt zu leisten. Bis heute wird der Musik wie kaum einem anderen Kulturgut die Fähigkeit zugesprochen, Grenzen aller Art zu überwinden. An diesem Punkt setzt dieses Buch an und analysiert die Aktivitäten internationaler Organisationen, die sich in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts mit musikalischen Fragen beschäftigten. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Expertennetzwerke von Musikwissenschaftlern, Komponisten und Musikethnologen sowie die Commission Internationale de Coopération Intellectuelle, die für kulturelle Fragen zuständige Abteilung des Völkerbunds. In Publikationen und auf Kongressen nutzten die Akteure die internationale Bühne zur nationalen Repräsentation und zur Aushandlung neuer disziplinärer Standards, die unter anderem darauf abzielten, nationale Besonderheiten definier- und vergleichbar zu machen. An der Schnittstelle von Globalgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft angesiedelt, ermöglicht die Studie neue Einblicke in das internationale Umfeld und das politische Ringen um Deutungsmacht im Kontext der Ausdifferenzierung der musikwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts.

Like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya needs to improve its capacity to generate agricultural information for use by policy-makers. This study assesses the roles that international organisations and NGOs play in this respect, suggests ways of enhancing these roles, and emphasises the need for governments to develop sound information strategies ; Like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya needs to improve its capacity to generate agricultural information for use by policy-makers.

Human rights violations by international organisations (IOs) are a possible side effect of their growing authority. Recent examples are the cases of sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers and violations caused by IMF austerity measures. In response, IOs increasingly develop safeguards to protect human rights from being violated through their policies to regain legitimacy. We argue that this development can be accounted for by a mechanism we call 'authority-legitimation mechanism'. We test this theoretical expectation against ten case studies on UN and EU sanctions policies, UN and NATO peacekeeping and World Bank and IMF lending. Next, we demonstrate inductively that the authority-legitimation mechanism can evolve through different pathways, depending on which actors get engaged. We label these pathways legislative institution-building if parliaments in member states put pressure on their governments to campaign for human rights safeguards in IOs, judicial institution-building if courts demand human rights safeguards, like-minded institution-building if civil society organisations, middle powers and IO bodies with little formal power push for human rights safeguards, or anticipatory institution-building if IOs adopt such safeguards from other IOs without having violated human rights themselves. Finally, we argue that which of these pathways are activated and how effective they are depends on specific conditions. ; Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich / This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.

International audience ; This article focuses on the political dynamics shaping policy agendas and prescriptions in international organisations (IOs). It elucidates the interactions of Brazil's state and non-state actors with international bureaucrats, and their role in framing the strategy and recommendations promoted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Portuguese-speaking Community of Countries regarding the challenge of tackling food insecurity. The research builds on semi-structured interviews and a significant number of institutional documents, and combines constructivist international relations theory and sociological approaches to policy transfer/ diffusion to explore the circulatory processes of policymaking. Aside from enhancing understanding of the micro-dynamics of framing and diffusion of policy ideas and prescriptions in IOs, the article provides information on the dissemination of policy solutions from the global south towards IOs and subsequently, to other developing countries.

International audience ; This article focuses on the political dynamics shaping policy agendas and prescriptions in international organisations (IOs). It elucidates the interactions of Brazil's state and non-state actors with international bureaucrats, and their role in framing the strategy and recommendations promoted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Portuguese-speaking Community of Countries regarding the challenge of tackling food insecurity. The research builds on semi-structured interviews and a significant number of institutional documents, and combines constructivist international relations theory and sociological approaches to policy transfer/ diffusion to explore the circulatory processes of policymaking. Aside from enhancing understanding of the micro-dynamics of framing and diffusion of policy ideas and prescriptions in IOs, the article provides information on the dissemination of policy solutions from the global south towards IOs and subsequently, to other developing countries.

International audience ; This article focuses on the political dynamics shaping policy agendas and prescriptions in international organisations (IOs). It elucidates the interactions of Brazil's state and non-state actors with international bureaucrats, and their role in framing the strategy and recommendations promoted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Portuguese-speaking Community of Countries regarding the challenge of tackling food insecurity. The research builds on semi-structured interviews and a significant number of institutional documents, and combines constructivist international relations theory and sociological approaches to policy transfer/ diffusion to explore the circulatory processes of policymaking. Aside from enhancing understanding of the micro-dynamics of framing and diffusion of policy ideas and prescriptions in IOs, the article provides information on the dissemination of policy solutions from the global south towards IOs and subsequently, to other developing countries.

International audience ; This article focuses on the political dynamics shaping policy agendas and prescriptions in international organisations (IOs). It elucidates the interactions of Brazil's state and non-state actors with international bureaucrats, and their role in framing the strategy and recommendations promoted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Portuguese-speaking Community of Countries regarding the challenge of tackling food insecurity. The research builds on semi-structured interviews and a significant number of institutional documents, and combines constructivist international relations theory and sociological approaches to policy transfer/ diffusion to explore the circulatory processes of policymaking. Aside from enhancing understanding of the micro-dynamics of framing and diffusion of policy ideas and prescriptions in IOs, the article provides information on the dissemination of policy solutions from the global south towards IOs and subsequently, to other developing countries.

International audience ; This article focuses on the political dynamics shaping policy agendas and prescriptions in international organisations (IOs). It elucidates the interactions of Brazil's state and non-state actors with international bureaucrats, and their role in framing the strategy and recommendations promoted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and Portuguese-speaking Community of Countries regarding the challenge of tackling food insecurity. The research builds on semi-structured interviews and a significant number of institutional documents, and combines constructivist international relations theory and sociological approaches to policy transfer/ diffusion to explore the circulatory processes of policymaking. Aside from enhancing understanding of the micro-dynamics of framing and diffusion of policy ideas and prescriptions in IOs, the article provides information on the dissemination of policy solutions from the global south towards IOs and subsequently, to other developing countries.