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The institutional design of funding rules at international organizations: Explaining the transformation in financing the United Nations.
- Source :
-
European Journal of International Relations . Jun2017, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p365-390. 26p. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- What explains the design and development of funding rules at international organizations? I investigate this question in the context of the United Nations system, which has undergone a dramatic shift in financing. Long associated with mandatory contributions, the United Nations increasingly relies on voluntary resources earmarked by individual donors. Previous studies have investigated the financing puzzle from a behavioral perspective and have found that wealthy donors use voluntary funding to rein in costs and constrain international organization programs. Providing an alternative theoretical approach, I investigate the financing puzzle from an institutional design perspective. I provide original United Nations funding rule data to demonstrate that it is not only funding practices, but also underlying funding rules, that have changed over time. I theorize how states with favorable views of the United Nations that sought to expand its activities — rather than those that desired to constrain it — had incentives to introduce funding rules that offered more flexibility and control to donors. I test the argument with a longitudinal case study of funding rule design and change at United Nations economic development institutions. The article expands the institutional design literature by integrating funding rules as a consequential design component and provides a novel explanation for changes in United Nations financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13540661
- Volume :
- 23
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- European Journal of International Relations
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 122973513
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066116648755