Item Details
Skip Navigation Links
   ActiveUsers:4168Hits:20968620Skip Navigation Links
Show My Basket
Contact Us
IDSA Web Site
Ask Us
Today's News
HelpExpand Help
Advanced search

In Basket
  Journal Article   Journal Article
 

ID107610
Title ProperPrincipal-agent theory and the World Trade Organization
Other Title Informationcomplex agency and 'missing delegation'
LanguageENG
AuthorElsig, Manfred
Publication2011.
Summary / Abstract (Note)This article analyses the World Trade Organization within a principal-agent framework. The concept of complex agent is introduced to focus on the variety of actors that comprise an international organization. Special attention is paid to the relationship between contracting parties' representatives and the Secretariat. In the empirical part, the article analyses the role of the Secretariat in assisting negotiations and presents evidence of declining influence. It is shown how principal-agent theory can contribute to addressing this puzzle of 'missing delegation'. The article concludes with a cautionary note as to the 'location' of international organizations' emerging pathologies and calls for additional research to address the relationship between material and social sources to explain behaviour of the key actors within the complex agency.
`In' analytical NoteEuropean Journal of International Relations Vol. 17, No.3; Sep 2011: p.495-517
Journal SourceEuropean Journal of International Relations Vol. 17, No.3; Sep 2011: p.495-517
Key WordsInternational Organization ;  Negotiations ;  Principal - Agent Theory ;  World Trade Organization ;  WTO ;  Principal – Agent Theory