Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T18:05:21.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Organizational Ecology and Institutional Change in Global Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2016

Get access

Abstract

The institutions of global governance have changed dramatically in recent years. New organizational forms—including informal institutions, transgovernmental networks, and private transnational regulatory organizations (PTROs)—have expanded rapidly, while the growth of formal intergovernmental organizations has slowed. Organizational ecology provides an insightful framework for understanding these changing patterns of growth. Organizational ecology is primarily a structural theory, emphasizing the influence of institutional environments, especially their organizational density and resource availability, on organizational behavior and viability. To demonstrate the explanatory value of organizational ecology, we analyze the proliferation of PTROs compared with the relative stasis of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). Continued growth of IGOs is constrained by crowding in their dense institutional environment, but PTROs benefit from organizational flexibility and low entry costs, which allow them to enter “niches” with limited resource competition. We probe the plausibility of our analysis by examining contemporary climate governance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, Kenneth W. 2012. The Transnational Regime Complex for Climate Change. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 30 (4):571–90.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., and Bernstein, Steven. 2015. The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: Orchestration by Default and Design. Global Policy 6 (3):222–33.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard, eds. 2015. International Organizations as Orchestrators. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 2009a. Strengthening International Regulation Through Transnational New Governance: Overcoming the Orchestration Deficit. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 42:501–78.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 2009b. The Governance Triangle: Regulatory Standards Institutions and the Shadow of the State. In The Politics of Global Regulation, edited by Mattli, Walter and Woods, Ngaire, 4488. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 2010. International Regulation Without International Government: Improving IO Performance Through Orchestration. Review of International Organizations 5 (3):315–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbott, Kenneth W. and Duncan, Snidal. 2014. The Governance Triangle. Unpublished paper.Google Scholar
Allison, Graham T. 1969. Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis. American Political Science Review 63 (3):689718.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J., and Meunier, Sophie. 2006. Nested and Overlapping Regimes in the Transatlantic Banana Trade Dispute. Journal of European Public Policy 13 (3):362–82.Google Scholar
Andonova, Liliana B. 2010. Public-Private Partnerships for the Earth: Politics and Patterns of Hybrid Authority in the Multilateral System. Global Environmental Politics 10 (2):2553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäckstrand, Karin. 2008. Accountability of Networked Climate Governance: The Rise of Transnational Climate Partnerships. Global Environmental Politics 8 (3):74102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, Joel A.C., ed. 2002. Organizational Ecology. In Blackwell Companion to Organizations, 304–26. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Baum, Joel A.C., and Rowley, Timothy. 2002. Companion to Organizations: An Introduction. In Blackwell Companion to Organizations, edited by Baum, Joel A. C., 135. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Steven. 2002. Liberal Environmentalism and Global Environmental Governance. Global Environmental Politics 2 (3):116.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Steven. 2011. Legitimacy in Intergovernmental and Non-state Global Governance. Review of International Political Economy 18 (1):1751.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Steven, and Cashore, Benjamin. 2007. Can Non-state Global Governance Be Legitimate? An Analytical Framework. Regulation and Governance 1 (4):347–71.Google Scholar
Betsill, Michele M., and Bulkeley, Harriet. 2006. Cities and the Multilevel Governance of Global Climate Change. Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 12 (2):141–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, Julia. 2008. Constructing and Contesting Legitimacy and Accountability in Polycentric Regulatory Regimes. Regulation and Governance 2:137–64.Google Scholar
Bob, Clifford. 2002. Merchants of Morality. Foreign Policy. 129:3645.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen, and Keohane, Robert O.. 2006. The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions. Ethics and International Affairs 20 (4):405–37.Google Scholar
Bulkeley, Harriet, Andonova, Liliana, Bäckstrand, Karin, Betsill, Michele, Compagnon, Daniel, Duffy, Rosaleen, Kolk, Ans, et al. 2012. Governing Climate Change Transnationally: Assessing the Evidence from a Database of Sixty Initiatives. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 30 (4):591612.Google Scholar
Bush, Sarah Sunn. 2015. The Taming of Democracy Assistance: Why Democracy Promotion Does Not Confront Dictators. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Buthe, Tim. 2010. Global Private Politics: A Research Agenda. Business and Politics 12 (3):124.Google Scholar
Carroll, Glenn R. 1985. Concentration and Specialization: Dynamics of Niche Width in Populations of Organizations. American Journal of Sociology 90 (6):1262–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cashore, Benjamin, Auld, Graeme, and Newsom, Deanna. 2004. Governing Through Markets: Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-state Authority. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Warren. 2014. Institutional Density Reconsidered: States, International Organizations and the Governance Space. PhD diss., Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada.Google Scholar
Conliffe, Alexandra. 2011. Combating Ineffectiveness: Climate Change Bandwagoning and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Global Environmental Politics 11 (3):4463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooley, Alexander, and Ron, James. 2002. The NGO Scramble: Organizational Insecurity and the Political Economy of Transnational Action. International Security 27 (1):539.Google Scholar
Cotgreave, Peter, and Forseth, Irwin. 2002. Introductory Ecology. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Eberlein, Burkard, Abbott, Kenneth W., Black, Julia, Meidinger, Errol, and Wood, Stepan. 2014. Transnational Business Governance Interactions: Conceptualization and Framework for Analysis. Regulation and Governance 8 (1). Available from <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rego.12030/abstract>. Accessed 17 August 2013.CrossRef.+Accessed+17+August+2013.>Google Scholar
Eckstein, Harry. 1975. Case Studies and Theory in Political Science. In Handbook of Political Science. Vol. 7, Political Science: Scope and Theory, edited by Greenstein, Fred I. and Polsby, Nelson W., 94137. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Falkner, Robert. 2003. Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links. Global Environmental Politics 3 (2):7287.Google Scholar
Fuchs, Doris, and Kalfagianni, Agni. 2010. The Causes and Consequences of Private Food Governance. Business and Politics 12 (3). Available from <http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/bap.2010.12.3/bap.2010.12.3.1319/bap.2010.12.3.1319.xml>. Accessed 15 August 2013.Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Peter. 1978. The Second Image Reversed: The International Sources of Domestic Politics. International Organization 32 (4):881912.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F. 2010a. Private Authority on the Rise: A Century of Delegation in Multilateral Environmental Agreements. In Transnational Actors in Global Governance: Patterns, Explanations and Implications, edited by Tallberg, Jonas and Jönsson, Christer, 155176. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F. 2010b. Private Standards in the Climate Regime: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Business and Politics 12 (3). doi:10.2202/1469-3569.1318.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F. 2013. Order Out of Chaos: Public and Private Rules for Managing Carbon. Global Environmental Politics 13 (2):125.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F. 2014. Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrerpreneurs in Global Environmental Governance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F. 2015. Blurred Lines: Why Do States Recognize Private Carbon Standards? Paper presented at the International Studies Association, February, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Green, Jessica F., and Colgan, Jeff. 2013. Protecting Sovereignty, Protecting the Planet: State Delegation to International Organizations and Private Actors in Environmental Politics. Governance 26 (3):473–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutner, Tamar. 2005. Explaining the Gaps Between Mandate and Performance: Agency Theory and World Bank Environmental Reform. Global Environmental Politics 5 (2):1037.Google Scholar
Hale, Thomas, and Roger, Charles. 2014. Orchestration and Transnational Climate Governance. Review of International Organizations 9 (1):5982.Google Scholar
Hannan, Michael T., and Carroll, Glenn. 1992. Dynamics of Organizational Populations: Density, Legitimation, and Competition. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hannan, Michael T., and Freeman, John. 1989. Organizational Ecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Haufler, Virginia. 2001. A Public Role for the Private Sector. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
Helfer, Laurence. 2004. Regime Shifting: The TRIPs Agreement and New Dynamics of International Intellectual Property Lawmaking. Yale Journal of International Law 29 (Winter):1.Google Scholar
Hsu, Greta, Hannan, Michael T., and Koçak, Özgecan. 2009. Multiple Category Memberships in Markets: An Integrative Theory and Two Empirical Tests. American Sociological Review 74 (1):150–69.Google Scholar
Jinnah, Sikina. 2011. Climate Change Bandwagoning: The Impacts of Strategic Linkages on Regime Design, Maintenance, and Death. Global Environmental Politics 11 (3):19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Tana. 2014. Organizational Progeny: Why Governments Are Losing Control over the Proliferating Structures of Global Governance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Tana, and Urpelainen, Johannes. 2012. A Strategic Theory of Regime Integration and Separation. International Organization 66 (4):645–77.Google Scholar
Jupille, Joseph, Mattli, Walter, and Snidal, Duncan. 2013. Institutional Choice and Global Commerce. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kahler, Miles. 2009. Global Governance Redefined. In Challenges of Globalization: Immigration, Social Welfare, Global Governance, edited by Sobel, Andrew Carl, 174–98. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1988. International Institutions: Two Approaches. International Studies Quarterly 32 (4):379–96.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Victor, David G.. 2011. The Regime Complex for Climate Change. Perspectives on Politics 9 (1):723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Nye, Joseph R. Jr. 1974. Transgovernmental Relations and International Organizations. World Politics 27 (1):3962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Nye, Joseph S. Jr. 1972. Transnational Relations and World Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Nye, Joseph S. Jr. 1977. Power and Interdependence in World Politics. 2nd ed. Boston: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Nye, Joseph S. Jr. 2001. Power and Interdependence. Boston: Longman.Google Scholar
Lake, David A. 2009. Hierarchy in International Relations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Lattanzio, Richard K. 2013. International Climate Change Financing: The Green Climate Fund (GCF). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Locke, Richard M. 2013. The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
March, James G., and Olsen, Johan P.. 1998. The Institutional Dynamics of International Political Orders. International Organization 52 (4):943–69.Google Scholar
Michonski, Katherine, and Levi, Michael. 2010. Harnessing International Institutions to Address Climate Change. New York: Council on Foreign Relations. Available from <http://www.cfr.org/publication/21609/harnessing_international_institutions_to_address_climate_change.html>. Accessed 30 October 2015.Google Scholar
Monteiro, Nuno P. 2014. Theory of Unipolar Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newig, Jens, and Fritsch, Oliver. 2009. Environmental Governance: Participatory, Multi-level—and Effective? Environmental Policy and Governance 19 (3):197214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattberg, Phillip. 2007. Private Institutions and Global Governance: The New Politics of Environmental Sustainability. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Pattberg, Philipp, and Stripple, Johannes. 2008. Beyond the Public and Private Divide: Remapping Transnational Climate Governance in the Twenty-first Century. International Environmental Agreements 8 (4):389408.Google Scholar
Pauwelyn, Joost, Wessel, Ramses, and Wouters, Jan. 2012. Informal International Lawmaking. 1st ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Peters-Stanley, Molly, and Hamilton, Katherine. 2012. Developing Dimension: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2012. Washington, DC: Eco.Google Scholar
Pontikes, Elizabeth G. 2012. Two Sides of the Same Coin: How Ambiguous Classification Affects Multiple Audiences’ Evaluations. Administrative Science Quarterly 57 (1):81118.Google Scholar
Prakash, Aseem, and Potoski, Matthew. 2006. The Voluntary Environmentalists: Green Clubs, ISO 14001, and Voluntary Environmental Regulations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Raustiala, Kal, and Victor, David G.. 2004. The Regime Complex for Plant Genetic Resources. International Organization 58 (2):277309.Google Scholar
Schalatek, Liane, and Nakooda, Smita. 2013. The Green Climate Fund. Washington, DC: Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America. Available from <http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8683.pdf>. Accessed 30 October 2015.Google Scholar
Scott, W. Richard. 1998. Organizations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 2003. Interlinkages between Biological Diversity and Climate Change. Advice on the Integration of Biodiversity Considerations into the Implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Its Kyoto Protocol. (CBD Technical Series no. 10). Montreal: SCBD. Available from <https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-10.pdf>. Accessed 3 December 2015..+Accessed+3+December+2015.>Google Scholar
Shanks, Cheryl, Jacobson, Harold K., and Kaplan, Jeffrey H.. 1996. Inertia and Change in the Constellation of International Governmental Organizations, 1981–1992. International Organization 50 (4):593627.Google Scholar
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2004. A New World Order. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations (UN). 1972. Gathering a Body of Global Agreements. New York: UN General Assembly. Available at <http://www.un-documents.net/a27r2997.htm>. Accessed 30 October 2015..+Accessed+30+October+2015.>Google Scholar
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2014a. Updated Compilation of Information on Mitigation Benefits of Actions, Initiatives and Options to Enhance Mitigation Ambition FCCC/TP/2014/3. 2 June 2014. Available from: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2014/tp/03.pdf>. Accessed 10 December 2015..+Accessed+10+December+2015.>Google Scholar
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 2014b. Climate Action Portal to Capture and Catalyze Climate Action in Support of 2015 Agreement. Available from: http://newsroom.unfccc.int/lima/new-portal-highlights-city-and-private-sector-climate-action>. Accessed 10 December 2015..+Accessed+10+December+2015.>Google Scholar
Vabulas, Felicity, and Snidal, Duncan. 2013. Organization Without Delegation: Informal Intergovernmental Organizations (IIGOs) and the Spectrum of Intergovernmental Arrangements. Review of International Organizations 8 (2):193220.Google Scholar
Viola, Lora Anne. 2015. Orchestration by Design: The G20 in International Financial Regulation. In International Organizations as Orchestrators, edited by Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard, 88113. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth. 1959. Man, the State, and War: A Theoretical Analysis. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Reading, MA: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Wilson, James. 1989. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wong, Wendy H. 2012. Internal Affairs: How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights. 1st ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Zelli, Fariborz, and van Asselt, Harro. 2013. Introduction: The Institutional Fragmentation of Global Environmental Governance: Causes, Consequences, and Responses. Global Environmental Politics 13 (3):113.Google Scholar