International Authority of International Organizations and Access Provision for Transnational Actors

Why do some international organizations (IOs) provide more institutional access for transnational actors (TNAs) into their policy processes than others? I argue that the international authority of IOs plays an important role in shaping the level of access provision. IOs with high and low international authority levels provide less access than IOs with medium levels of authority. High authority IOs have no functional needs in involving TNAs. Low authority IOs are not mandated with tasks that may require additional input by TNAs. In contrast, IOs with medium levels of authority experience an institutional shortage of authority for achieving the goals of their mandates. For this reason, they see a strong functional benefit in involving TNAs as a way to overcome their authority limitations. I employ regression analysis using existing datasets in order to test the hypothesis. Statistical results support the argument.