Why International Organizations Hate Politics

Louis, Marieke; Maertens, Lucile

doi:10.4324/9780429466984

Cited by 118 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…We may think, however, that, despite all problems and stalemates, the process has moved forward and can, and will surely, move further in the direction of seriously addressing the problems that beset us (Dahan, 2016 ). Yet it is important to bring out and stand against the ‘depoliticisation’ of the debate and, as this article has laid out, of the lexicon we have previously examined, which is indeed underpinned by political issues and choices, despite their apparent technicality (see for instance, for other, related issues, either encompassing or regarding the environment the following authors, though only the last cursorily deals with climate change: Petiteville, 2018 ; Maertens & Parizet, 2017 ; Louis & Maertens, 2021 ).…”

Section: Lexicon and Powermentioning

confidence: 91%

Climate Change and Its Lexicon: An Analytical and Critical View

Dọmingues

2021

Int J Polit Cult Soc

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Climate change is an overwhelming issue today, but sociology has yet to fully engage with its hermeneutical and political aspects. The article tackles this limitation and thus the lexicon of climate change, proposing an integrated framework that brings its principal concepts and notions together. In particular, it singles out hazard, risk and threat, vulnerability and resilience, adaptation, mitigation and precaution, Anthropocene and Capitalocene, nature and society. Although some authors have stressed the political aspects underlying these concepts and notions, and the IPCC itself has incipiently recognised this issue, the parameters of the debate remain conspicuously narrow. The article therefore proposes to engage it in direct and strong political terms, countering the partly successful operation of depoliticisation that such concepts and notions undergo. While the article concentrates on discursive aspects, it eventually points to the role of agents and power within the UN system concerning the articulation of this lexicon.

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Section: Lexicon and Powermentioning

confidence: 91%

Climate Change and Its Lexicon: An Analytical and Critical View

Dọmingues

2021

Int J Polit Cult Soc

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“…It also sits uneasily with the urgency frequently invoked by activists and experts alike to characterize the climate crisis. Climate logic may therefore also foreground a different temporal register: a routinized invocation of urgency (Louis and Maertens 2021), in which it is always 'five minutes to midnight' (Geden 2018)… but never too late.…”

Section: (4) Climatization Is Driven By Motives Of Problem Control Adaptation To Change and Institutional Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inevitably, such dynamics depend on the actors driving the climatization process. They also reveal a broader underlying tension between the politicization of climate change, through climatizing moves, and its depoliticization, when responsibility is diluted among numerous actors-if everyone is responsible, no one is (Louis and Maertens 2021).…”

Section: (4) Climatization Is Driven By Motives Of Problem Control Adaptation To Change and Institutional Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The climatization of global politics: introduction to the special issue

Aykut

Maertens

2021

Int Polit

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Climate change now constitutes a major issue in world politics, intersecting with and shaping many other political domains, and wider patterns of social and economic life. Global climate governance is also no longer restricted to multilateral negotiations under the UN Climate Convention: it increasingly extends beyond the international climate regime to climatize other areas of global politics. This concept of climatization points to a powerful but uneven process of extension, translation, and social coordination, as climate change becomes the frame of reference through which other policy issues and forms of global activism are mediated and hierarchized. This special issue brings together contributions on both theoretical aspects and empirical cases of the climatization process. The introduction sets out a conceptual framework to systematize these observations and guide further research. First, we identify the preconditions for, and driving forces behind, climatization. We then sketch the contours of an emergent ‘climate logic’ that reshapes affected domains, and examine the wider implications of climatization for global politics. Beyond the climate case, we hope this will provide new ways to observe and understand contemporary transformations of global society and global governance.

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“…This dominance of technical/functional learning over political/principled learning 26 is reflected in the management vocabulary used (‘lessons learned’, ‘best practices’) and supports earlier findings from critical IO research (cf. Ferguson 1990 ; Louis and Maertens 2021 ).…”

Section: Conclusion: Suppression Of Criticism As a Survival Strategy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A threat rather than a resource: why voicing internal criticism is difficult in international organisations

Christian

2021

J Int Relat Dev

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Voicing criticism seems to be a difficult task for employees in international organisations (IOs), as numerous anecdotes in the literature suggest. This observation is alarming, since internal criticism is an indispensable resource for organisational learning processes. So why are IOs apparently not using this resource to its full potential? The present article is the first to provide a comprehensive answer to this question by combining insights from organisation theory with an empirical case study of the UN Secretariat. My general argument is that ‘criticism from within’ is ambivalent. It can be a resource for, but also a threat to IOs: internal criticism can endanger an IO’s external reputation as well as destabilise the organisation from within. Based on this theoretical understanding, I identify and empirically examine three specific reasons for the UN Secretariat’s weak criticism culture: (1) Criticism is suppressed due to a widespread fear of leaks resulting from external pressures. (2) Criticism is avoided as a strategy of self-protection in the face of (inevitable) failures. (3) Constructive criticism is difficult to express in settings where organisational hypocrisy is necessary.

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Why International Organizations Hate Politics

Cited by 118 publications

References 0 publications

Climate Change and Its Lexicon: An Analytical and Critical View

Climate Change and Its Lexicon: An Analytical and Critical View

The climatization of global politics: introduction to the special issue

A threat rather than a resource: why voicing internal criticism is difficult in international organisations

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