This is the third of five ambitious volumes theorizing the structure of governance above and below the central state. This book is written for those interested in the character, causes, and consequences of governance within the state. This book sets out a measure of authority for seventy-six international organizations (IOs) from 1950, or the time of their establishment, to 2010 which can allow researchers to test expectations about the character, sources, and consequences of international governance. The international organizations considered are regional (e.g. the EU, Andean Community, NAFTA), cross-regional (e.g. Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and global (e.g. the UN, World Bank, WTO). Firstly, the book introduces carefully constructed estimates for the scope and depth of authority exercised by international governments. The estimates are unique in their comparative scope, their specificity, and time span. Secondly, it describes describe broad trends in IO authority by comparing delegation and pooling, over time, across IOs, and across decision areas. Thirdly, it presents the evidence gathered by the authors to estimate international authority by carefully discussing forty-seven international organizations, and showing how their bodies are composed, what decisions each body makes, and how they make decisions. Transformations in Governance is a major new academic book series from Oxford University Press. It is designed to accommodate the impressive growth of research in comparative politics, international relations, public policy, federalism, environmental and urban studies concerned with the dispersion of authority from central states up to supranational institutions, down to subnational governments, and side-ways to public-private networks. It brings together work that significantly advances our understanding of the organization, causes, and consequences of multilevel and complex governance. The series is selective, containing annually a small number of books of exceptionally high quality by leading and emerging scholars. The series targets mainly single-authored or co-authored work, but it is pluralistic in terms of disciplinary specialization, research design, method, and geographical scope. Case studies as well as comparative studies, historical as well as contemporary studies, and studies with a national, regional, or international focus are all central to its aims. Authors use qualitative, quantitative, formal modeling, or mixed methods. A trade mark of the books is that they combine scholarly rigour with readable prose and an attractive production style. The series is edited by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Walter Mattli of the University of Oxford.

International organisations (IOs) often receive a bad press, seen as intrusive, domineering and unresponsive to the needs of the people and countries they are meant to serve. The best way to understand the operation of these international organisations is to bring together those who represent their countries at IOs and those who have been working at IOs at various capacities and then to listen to their experiences. This book develops an alternative approach to the analysis of IOs that takes account of all those involved, whether state representatives, IO leaders and members of the secretariat. Experts with long experience in the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, WIPO, the FAO and the WHO at senior level consider the workings of the IOs, and a conclusion that explicitly draws out the comparative lessons and contrasts the insights of practitioners from those of external observers. This book takes an alternative approach to the analysis of IOs that takes account of all those involved, whether state representatives, IO leaders and members of the secretariat. Providing a well-informed, innovative and consistently structured analysis of IOs this work will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, international organizations and global governance.

From September 2011 to September 2012, Ambassador Nasser Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar presided over the 66th session of the “world’s parliament” – the United Nations General Assembly. It was a critical moment in international affairs as the UN responded to a range of global challenges, from the world financial crisis to the Arab Spring. In A Year at the Helm of the General Assembly, Al-Nasser presents a high-level look inside the organization, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, its successes and struggles. He recounts dramatic moments, such as replacing the Libyan delegation, and a tireless schedule of overseas travel, including joint visits with the Secretary-General to Libya and Somalia. His work takes him from major international summits such as the Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio+20) to the European Parliament, which he was the first General Assembly President to address, to academic institutions from Oxford to Moscow to Morocco. Al-Nasser structures the book as he did his 66th session, around four main themes or “pillars:” mediation, UN reform, natural disaster prevention and response, and sustainable development.He offers a wide range of recommendations to intergovernmental institutions, to states, to the public sector, and to individuals. Al-Nasser was determined to leave behind a General Assembly that the people of the world could look up to and depend on. This volume is a testament to all that he accomplished in that regard, and a unique resource for those interested in knowing more about the world’s most representative body at a crucial moment in history.

The OECD Economic Outlook is the OECD’s twice-yearly analysis of the major economic trends and prospects for the next two years.