Prof. Radoslav Dimitrov (MON Diaspora Fellow, Jan – Mar ‘22) will talk about his research on:

Empty Institutions in World Politics

on 17 February, 2022 (Thursday) at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Dr. Delyan Rusev

Abstract

Why are some international institutions without any policymaking powers? Some international organizations are empty eggshells that are deliberately designed not to deliver results. Their mandates deprive them of any capacity for policy formulation or implementation. Examples include the United Nations Forum on Forests, the Copenhagen Accord on Climate Change, and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Research for this presentation is based on participatory observation of twenty-one rounds of international negotiations over ten years and interviews with diplomats, policymakers and observers. Empty institutions serve two political functions. First, they are political tools for hiding failure at negotiations, by creating a public impression of policy progress. Second, empty institutions are “decoys” that distract public scrutiny and legitimize collective inaction, by filling the institutional space in a given issue area and by neutralizing pressures for genuine policy. Contrary to conventional academic wisdom, institutions can be raised as obstacles that pre-empt governance rather than facilitate it. The seminar presents the analytical framework and main arguments in a book that will be published by Oxford University Press.