Reputation As a Disciplinarian of International Organizations

Am. J. Int'l L. 113, no. 2 (2019): 221-271

U of Michigan Public Law Research Paper

Posted: 16 Jul 2019 Last revised: 11 Sep 2019

Abstract

When international organizations cause harm to individuals, those individuals are only rarely able to turn to courts, arbitrators, or other dispute settlement mechanisms to hold the organization accountable. In the absence of such formal accountability mechanisms, informal mechanisms—in particular, threats to the organization’s reputation—play an especially important role. While a large literature has explored the role of reputation as a disciplinarian of other kinds of organizations, including private firms, domestic administrative agencies, and NGOs, very little scholarship has explored reputational dynamics in the context of international organizations. Drawing on the extant literature and focusing on the United Nations’ response to allegations of sexual violence perpetrated by UN peacekeepers and French soldiers implementing a Security Council mandate in the Central African Republic, this Article seeks to fill that gap.

This article argues that, as a disciplinarian, reputation has some serious shortcomings. Even though international organizations have strong incentives to maintain a good reputation, reputational concerns will sometimes fail to spur preventive or corrective action. Three features of reputation explain why. First, international organizations’ reputations are multifaceted, not unidimensional: international organizations have distinct reputations for legality, morality, effectiveness, expertise, independence, and cooperativeness with their member states. Second, multiple audiences observe and judge their conduct—not always against the same standard. Third, distinct reputations may attach to the particular individuals and units that make up international organizations. Because of these multiplicities, efforts to preserve a “good” reputation may pull organizations in many different directions.

A separate problem is that concern about reputation may elicit problematic responses within international organizations. Sometimes reputational harm will motivate changes—but only superficial ones. And sometimes concern about reputational harm may tempt organizations not to confront problems but to cover them up.

JEL Classification: K33

Suggested Citation

Daugirdas, Kristina, Reputation As a Disciplinarian of International Organizations. Am. J. Int'l L. 113, no. 2 (2019): 221-271, U of Michigan Public Law Research Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3370510

Kristina Daugirdas (Contact Author)

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

701 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States

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