Search results for ""author joel e. oestreich""
Georgetown University Press Power and Principle: Human Rights Programming in International Organizations
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has instructed all UN specialized agencies and other affiliated organizations to consider how their work might advance the cause of human rights around the world. Many of these bodies have taken this call to heart, with a wide range of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) trying to play a more active role in promoting human welfare. "Power and Principle" is a comparative study of how and why IGOs integrate human rights standards into their development operations. It focuses on the process of policy innovation in three UN-related IGOs: the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF,) the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). In his comprehensive analysis, Joel E. Oestreich uses case studies to demonstrate how their policies have evolved during the past two decades to reflect important human rights considerations. Drawing on interviews with dozens of staffers from IGOs, Oestreich creates a gripping narrative of the inner workings of these large bureaucracies. In each study he describes how the organization first became interested in human rights standards, how these standards were adopted as a priority, how the organization defined rights in the context of their work, and what a rights-based approach has meant in practice. The book argues that IGOs ought to be seen as capable of meaningful agency in international politics, and describes the nature of that agency. It concludes with an examination of these organizations and their ethical responsibilities as actors on the world stage.
£48.00
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd Global Institutions in a Time of Power Transition: Governing Turbulence
This timely book investigates the role of the UN Secretariat in an era of significant global power shifts. It demonstrates that UN staff have some ability to shape political outcomes towards their own ideals and the UN’s institutional mission, and also that their powers are limited by member states seeking to influence and control the Secretariat. It puts new focus on the UN staff as variables here.Using a novel theoretical model of the role of global civil servants in world politics, this book analyses the interaction between rising and declining powers, and the UN Secretariat. Contributors explore a wide range of case studies, examining UN interactions with a diverse range of states, UN agencies, and other global secretariats such as the WHO and WTO. The book considers both the ethical and practical questions facing UN staff, revealing the tension between political pragmatism and institutional idealism. Advancing the debate on institutions and global change, it argues that Secretariat staff play a complicated but active role in managing power transitions and shaping international politics.Global Institutions in a Time of Power Transition will be an invaluable resource for scholars of political geography, international relations, regulation and governance, and the United Nations. It will also be essential reading for staff at international organisations who wish to understand their role in world politics.
£90.00