International Organizations

Course Convener:
Prof. Dr.rer.pol. Salvador Santino Regilme Jr., M.A.
Email: [email protected]

This undergraduate seminar course introduces students to the key concepts, issues, debates, and
controversies on the theories and practice of international organization. The course is divided
into three parts. First, it introduces students to the conceptual debates on power, interstate
cooperation, and international organizations. Second, it provides an overview of the key
theories and approaches in analyzing international organizations. Third, the course discusses
the effects of and processes involved in the work of international organizations.

Most importantly, the success of this course primarily depends on the students’ commitment to
invest time in critical understanding of all required readings, active participation during seminar
discussions, and careful development of an empirically-driven political science research
proposal. This is a seminar course, and the success of this session ultimately depends on the
quality of discussions, exchanges, and debates amongst all the participants.

Course Requirements and Guidelines:

1. Research Essay (20%) : one research article (minimum of 5,000 words, maximum of
7,000 words) about any IO issue. This research essay needs to address a significant topic
in contemporary IO, with a clear research question/puzzle and a logical flow of
evidence-based argumentation. A two-page version of this research essay has to be
distributed to all class participants by week 10. Submission date: to be decided.
2. Weekly review essays (70%) : a typewritten/computerized printed essay of around 500-
750 words using MS Word Count. This very brief essay is composed of two parts: (1)
description of the main themes/issues/questions highlighted in the set of readings for
that session, around 200-300 words, and (2) a very short analysis or critical reflection
of the key issues covered in the readings, around 300-400 words.
3. A seminar presentation (45 to 60 minutes) and class participation (10%): A group of
students (or a student) will be required to lead the seminar discussion for one session.
“Leading”, in this case, means that the assigned group/student will provide a thirty-
minute presentation of the required readings for the session and an interactive discussion
with the class. The presentation requires a summary of the concepts, questions, and
issues in the readings (40 minutes minimum) as well as a list of puzzles/suggestions
questions for the plenary discussion (15 minutes).
4. Consultation with the professor. All students are strongly encouraged to seek an
individual consultation appointment via email (once during the term period). There are
no fixed consultation hours. Instead, students are required to have a 15-minute or so
consultation with the course convener during the term; ideally, the consultation has to
occur sometime within an hour or so before the class session. Skype meeting is also
possible.

Course Policies

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Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

 1. Student attendance policy is governed by the applicable DLSU Graduate Student
Handbook.
2. At the start of the term (or the session), the course lecturer may provide some digital
copies of most/if not all of the readings. Ultimately, the student is solely responsible
for purchasing or obtaining a copy of all the required readings for the course.
3. Email policy: Please allow me to respond to your email within 48 hours. Your email
correspondences have to be sent to both [email protected] and
[email protected] . Please see Chris Blattman’s (Columbia University) guide
on writing emails to your professors and employers:
http://chrisblattman.com/2010/11/08/students-how-to-email-to-your-professor-
employer-and-professional-peers/ . Emails that require longer responses will not be
answered; instead, students need to seek an appointment from the course convener at
least three days in advance. Inquiries that can be answered by referring to this document
will not be answered.
4. Recommendation letters. I can not write recommendation letters for students who do
not reach at least a grade of 4.0 in this course, unless you worked for me as a research
assistant or intern.
5. An option for research internship. The most promising full-time graduate students, who
successfully completed this course with a grade of at least 3.0, have the opportunity to
work for me as a research intern. This grade requirement might be waived, and I have
the option to offer this opportunity sometime in the middle of the term, when I finally
have a preliminary idea of the research aptitude of a potential intern coming from this
class. This research internship is unpaid, but it includes an opportunity to undergo
hands-on and intensive training on empirical political science research. Minimum
internship period is set for three months, with approximately 20 hours per week of
workload (negotiable). Please approach me anytime during the term if you are
interested.
6. Good writing in the social sciences: Good writers with good ideas are likely to succeed
at the university, and consequently, in the many other professions. During the first two
weeks of the term, please ensure that you read the following materials:
a. Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style Purchase it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sense-Style-Thinking-Persons-
Writing/dp/0143127799/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 (It is a must that you read this.)
b. Good Writing in Political Science by Henry Farrell
http://themonkeycage.org/2010/02/good_writing_in_political_scie/
c. Papers in Political Science by Ashley Leeds
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~leeds/Leedsrespaperguide.pdf
d. How to write an essay by Chris Blattman.
http://chrisblattman.com/2010/02/17/how-to-write-an-essay/
7. Learn how to use a reference management software. There is a wide variety of options
depending on your needs, but a good start would be the following: Papers for Mac or
Windows, Zotero, EndNote, and Mendeley. You will thank me forever in case you
decide to use one of these programs or other comparable ones as it will make your
writing tasks so much easier by saving more time!

Required Books (Buy/obtain a copy and read all these books for your own good!)

Barnett, Michael, and Martha Finnemore. 2010. Rules for the World: International
Organizations in Global Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
International Organizations (Undergraduate Seminar) 2
Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

COURSE OUTLINE

Part 1: Course Introduction: Power, Cooperation, and International Organizations

1. Course Introduction
a. Barnett, Michael, and Raymond Duvall. 2005. “Power in International
Politics.” International Organization 59(01).
b. Kratochwil, Friedrich, and John Gerard Ruggie. 1986. “International
Organization: a State of the Art on an Art of the State.” International
Organization 40(4): 753–75.
c. Viola, Lora Anne. 2013. “Stratificatory Differentiation as a Constitutive
Principle of the International System.” In Bringing Sociology to International
Relations World Politics as Differentiation Theory, eds. Mathias Albert, Barry
Buzan, and Michael Zürn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 112–31.

2. Why Organize? Cooperation and International Institutions.

a. Keohane, Robert. 1984. After Hegemony, Princeton: Princeton University
Press. Chapters 1, 4, 6.
b. Ikenberry, G. John. 2001. After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and
the Rebuilding of Order after Major Wars, Princeton: Princeton University
Press. Chapters 1-3.
c. Abbott, Kennneth W, and Duncan Snidal. 1998. “Why States Act Through
Formal International Organizations.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 42(1): 3–
32.
d. Levy, Marc A, Oran R Young, and Michael Zürn. 1995. “The Study of
International Regimes.” European Journal of International Relations 1(3):
267–330.
e. Held, David, Thomas Hale, and Kevin Young. 2013. “Gridlock: From Self-
Reinforcing Interdependence to Second-Order Cooperation Problems.” Global
Policy 4(3): 223–35.

Part 2: Theories and Approaches to International Organizations

3. Realist/Power-based theories and Liberal views

a. John J. Mearsheimer, “The False Promise of International Institutions,
International Security 19, No. 3 (Winter 1994-1995), 5-49.
b. John Mearsheimer. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W.
Norton &Company, 2001. Chapter 2. pages 29-54.
c. Robert Keohane and Lisa Martin, “The Promise of Institutionalist Theory,”
International Security 20, No. 1 (Summer, 1995), 39-51.
d. Kuziemko, Ilyana and Eric Werker. 2006. “How Much Is a Seat on the Security
Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations.” Journal of
Political Economy, 114(5), pp. 905-930.

4. Constructivist and non-materialist views

a. Barnett and Finnemore, Rules for the World, chapters 1-3.
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Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

 b. Kelley, Judith. 2004. “International Actors on the Domestic Scene: Membership
Conditionality and Socialization by International Institutions.” International
Organization 58(3), pp. 425-457.
c. Regilme, Salvador Santino F Jr. 2013. “It Takes Two to Tango: a Constructivist
Analysis of EU-ASEAN Interregional Relations.” In Global Power Europe -
Volume 2: Policies, Actions, and Influence of the EU's Relations, eds. Astrid
Boening, Jan Frederik Kremer, and Aukje van Loon. Heidelberg; New York;
Dordrecht; London: Springer, 237–52.
d. Risse, Thomas. 2000. “‘Let's Argue!’: Communicative Action in World
Politics.” International Organization 54(1): 1–39.
e. Freistein, Katja. 2013. “‘A Living Document’: Promises of the ASEAN
Charter.” The Pacific Review 26(4): 407–29.

5. Principal-agent, evolutionary approaches, and pathologies

a. Nielson, Daniel L. and Michael J. Tierney. 2003. “Delegation to International
Organizations: Agency Theory and World Bank Environmental Reform.”
International Organization, 57, pp. 241-276.
b. Copelovitch, Mark S. 2010. “Master or Servant? Common Agency and the
Political Economy of IMF Lending.” International Studies Quarterly,54(1), pp.
49-77.
c. Barnett, Michael and Martha Finnemore. 1999. “The Politics, Power, and
Pathologies of International Organizations.” International Organization, 53(4):
pp. 699-732.
d. Viola, Lora Anne, and Duncan Snidal. 2008. The Evolutionary Design of
International Institutions. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Political Science Association, Boston, August 28-31, 2008.

6. Legitimacy and Institutional design

a. Zürn, Michael. "Global governance and legitimacy problems." Government and
Opposition 39.2 (2004): 260-287.
b. Koremenos, Barbara, Charles Lipson and Duncan Snidal. 2001. “The Rational
Design of International Institutions.” International Organization, 55(4), pp.
761-799.
c. Wendt, Alexander. 2001. “Driving with the Rearview Mirror: On the Rational
Science of Institutional Design.” International Organization, 55(4), pp. 1019-
1049.
d. Hurd, Ian. 2002. “Legitimacy, Power, and the Symbolic Life of the UN Security
Council.” Global Governance, 8, pp. 35-51.
e. Bodansky, Daniel. 1999. “The Legitimacy of International Governance: a
Coming Challenge for International Environmental Law?.” The American
Journal of International Law 93(3): 596.

Part 3: International Organizations: Its Effects, Emerging Trends, and Processes

7. Effectiveness, Compliance, and Cooperation

a. Mansfield, Edward D., and Jon C Pevehouse. 2006. “Democratization and
International Organizations.” International Organization 60(01): 137–67.

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Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

 b. Pevehouse, Jon C. 2002. “Democracy From the Outside-in? International
Organizations and Democratization.” International Organization 56(3): 515–
49.
c. Von Stein, Jana. 2005. “Do Treaties Constrain or Screen? Selection Bias and
Treaty Compliance.” American Political Science Review, 99(4), pp. 611-622.
d. Simmons, Beth and Daniel Hopkins. 2005. “The Constraining Power of
International Treaties: Theory and Methods.” American Political Science
Review, 99(4), pp. 623-631.
e. Hale, Thomas, and Charles Roger. 2013. “Orchestration and Transnational
Climate Governance.” Review of International Organizations 9(1): 59–82.

8. Intergovernmental Institutions: United Nations, ASEAN, and the European Union

a. Zürn, Michael. 2000. “Democratic Governance Beyond the Nation-State:: the
EU and Other International Institutions.” European Journal of International
Relations 6(2): 183–221.
b. Vreeland, James Raymond. 2008. “Political Institutions and Human Rights:
Why Dictatorships Enter Into the United Nations Convention Against Torture.”
International Organization 62(01): 65–101.
c. Acharya, Amitav. 1997. “Ideas, Identity, and Institution-Building: From the
‘ASEAN Way’ to the ‘Asia-Pacific Way'?.” The Pacific Review 10(3): 319–46.
d. Risse-Kappen, Thomas. 1996. “Exploring the Nature of the Beast: International
Relations Theory and Comparative Policy Analysis Meet the European Union.”
JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 34(1): 53–80.
e. Jones, Lee. 2010. “ASEAN's Unchanged Melody? the Theory and Practice of
“Non-Interference” in Southeast Asia.” The Pacific Review 23(4): 479–502.

9. Non-State Actors: NGOs and Multinational Corporations

a. Keck, Margaret E., and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders:
Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press. [chapters 1 and 5]
b. Kim, Dongwook. 2013. “International Nongovernmental Organizations and the
Global Diffusion of National Human Rights Institutions.” International
Organization 67(03): 505–39.
c. Petras, James. 2007. “NGOs: in the Service of Imperialism.” Journal of
Contemporary Asia 29(4): 429–40.
d. Tsutsui, Kiyoteru, and Christine Min Wotipka. 2004. “Global Civil Society and
the International Human Rights Movement: Citizen Participation in Human
Rights International Nongovernmental Organizations.” Social Forces 83(2):
587–620.
e. May, Christopher. 2015. “Who’s in Charge? Corporations as Institutions of
Global Governance.” Palgrave Communications 1: 15042.

10. Global Governance Institutions and Geopolitical Shifts

a. Viola, Lora Anne. 2014. “The G-20 and Global Financial Regulation.” In
Handbook of Global Economic Governance Players, Power and Paradigms,
eds. Manuela Moschella and Catherine Weaver. London and New York:
Handbook of Global Economic Governance, 115–28.
b. Keohane, Robert O. 2011. “Global Governance and Legitimacy.” Review of
International Political Economy 18(1): 99–109.

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Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.

 c. Gu, Jing, John Humphrey, and Dirk Messner. 2008. “Global Governance and
Developing Countries: the Implications of the Rise of China.” World
Development 36(2): 274–92.
d. Kahler, Miles. 2013. “Rising Powers and Global Governance: Negotiating
Change in a Resilient Status Quo.” International Affairs 89(3): 711–29.

11. Issue Framing, Agenda-Setting, and Capacity-Building

a. Sell, Susan, and Aseem Prakash. 2004. “Using Ideas Strategically: the Contest
Between Business and NGO Networks in Intellectual Property Rights”
International Studies Quarterly 48(1): 143–75.
b. Carpenter, Charli, Sirin Duygulu, Alexander H Montgomery, and Anna Rapp.
2014. “Explaining the Advocacy Agenda: Insights From the Human Security
Network.” International Organization 68(02): 449–70.
c. Dahan-Dalmedico, Amy. 2013. “Climate Expertise: Between Scientific
Credibility and Geopolitical Imperatives.” Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
33(1): 71–81.
d. Kwon, Huck ju, and Eunju Kim. 2014. “Poverty Reduction and Good
Governance: Examining the Rationale of the Millennium Development Goals.”
Development and Change 45(2): 353–75.
e. Risse, Thomas. 2004. “Global Governance and Communicative Action.”
Government and Opposition 39(2): 288–313.

12. Norm Creation

a. Wyzycka, Natalia, and Reza Hasmath. 2015. “The Influence of EU Norms on
Foreign Policy Practice: the Case of EU-China Relations.” Working Paper:
University of Oxford. http://works.bepress.com/rhasmath/38/ (August 4, 2015).
b. Finnemore, Martha, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. “International Norm Dynamics
and Political Change.” International Organization 52(4): 887–917. (FOCUS on
pages 895-909)
c. Acharya, Amitav. 2004. “How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm
Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism.” International
Organization 58(02): 239–75.
d. Susan Hyde, “Catch Us If You Can: Election Monitoring and International
Norm Diffusion,” American Journal of Political Science, 55 (No. 2, 2011), read
pp. 356-364.
e. Risse, Thomas, and Kathryn Sikkink. 1999. “The Socialization of International
Human RightsNorms Into Domestic Practices: Introduction..” In The Power of
Human Rights International Norms and Domestic Change, eds. Thomas Risse,
Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 1–38.
f. Ruggie, John Gerard. 2014. “Global Governance and ‘New Governance
Theory’: Lessons From Business and Human Rights
.” Global
Governance 20: 5–17.

13. Research Agenda for International Organizations

a. Hafner-Burton, Emilie, Jana von Stein, and Erik Gartzke. 2008. “International
Organizations Count.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 52(2), pp. 175-188.
b. Martin, Lisa and Beth A. Simmons. 1998. “Theories and Empirical Studies of
International Institutions.” International Organization, 52(4), pp. 729-757.
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 c. Rudra, Nita. 2009. “Why International Organizations Should Bring Basic Needs
Back in.” International Studies Perspectives 10(2): 129–50.
d. Hafner-Burton, Emilie, David G Victor, and Yonatan Lupu. 2012. “Political
Science Research on International Law: the State of the Field.” The American
Journal of International Law 106(1): 47–97.
e. Hurrell, Andrew. 2011. “The Theory and Practice of Global Governance : the
Worst of All Possible Worlds ?.” International Studies Review 13(1): 144–54.

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Dr. Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr.