unops and the Rise of Entrepreneurial International Organizations: A Case Study

Abstract

This article provides an introduction to the United Nations Office for Procurement Services (unops), which is an interesting entity because it is financially entirely self-reliant, and has thus become extremely business-minded, at times resembling a private company. Through the case study of unops, the article also seeks to draw attention to a broader development, namely the increasing entrepreneurial activities of international organizations. As the article argues, this trend provides a challenge to the theory of international organizations law, which has traditionally focused on relations between international organizations and their member states, while imagining the former as acting in public interest and the latter as principals (rather than clients).