Theory: Understanding Budgeting in International Organizations

Abstract

Chapter 2 presents the theoretical contribution of the book as it seeks to go beyond recent discussions that consider either principal complexity or agency complexity as key drivers of organizational dynamics in international organizations. It also introduces the main outcomes of interest with regard to UN budgeting: proceduralization, routinization, and budgetary segmentation. By combining both types of complexity and by studying these outcomes, one can make predictions about the types of budgets to expect in international organizations; one can make assumptions about various dynamics of IO budgeting procedures; and one can understand how conflicts in international bureaucracies relate to disagreements amongst member states. This advances important conceptual and theoretical debates that started, in particular, with Hawkins et al.’s Delegation and Agency in International Organizations. It also enlarges a theoretical understanding of budgeting under complex principal–agent constellations more broadly.