The Modern Multilateral Bureaucracy: What is the Role of International Administrative Law at International Organizations?

What is the role of ‘international administrative law’—the law of employment relations—at international organizations? This chapter begins by contrasting the international legal status of States on the one hand, and international organizations on the other, before noting that the bureaucracies of the latter are heir to the traditions and identity of the former. It is then argued that transposing modern bureaucracy— ideally, meritocractic and impersonal national civil services—to multilateral administration, replaces the ‘patrimonial’ pressures on modern States with the related risks of ‘State sociability’ and co-option of international organizations. We then review the several legal bases of international administrative tribunals to discern whether international administrative law takes into account this strain. This chapter draws the conclusion that international administrative law is inherent to the assumption by multilateral administration of the ideals of modern bureaucracy— impartial, efficient and energetic—and so synonymous with the independent existence of international organizations.