Policy Press

International Organizations and Small States

Participation, Legitimacy and Vulnerability

By Jack Corbett, Xu Yi-chong and Patrick Weller

Published

Mar 14, 2023

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529207699

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Oct 19, 2021

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529207682

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Oct 19, 2021

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529207729

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Oct 19, 2021

Page count

218 pages

ISBN

978-1529207729

Dimensions

Imprint

Bristol University Press
International Organizations and Small States

International Organizations (IOs) are vital institutions in world politics in which cross-border issues can be discussed and global problems managed.

This path-breaking book shows the efforts that small states have made to participate more fully in IO activities. It draws attention to the challenges created by widened participation in IOs and develops an original model of the dilemmas that both IOs and small states face as the norms of sovereign equality and the right to develop coincide.

Drawing on extensive qualitative data, including more than 80 interviews conducted for this book, the authors find that the strategies which both IOs and small states adopt to balance their respective dilemmas can explain both continuity and change in their interactions with institutions ranging from UN agencies to the World Trade Organization.

Jack Corbett is Professor of Politics at the University of Southampton.

Patrick Weller is Professor Emeritus at Griffith University.

Xu Yi-chong is a Professor at Griffith University.

1. Introduction

Part I: Actors

2. Why Do IOs Encourage the Participation of Small States?

3. Why Do Small States Engage with IOs?

Part II: Interactions

4. Differentiated Vulnerabilities, Climate Change and the UN Agencies

5. Differentiated Development in the IMF, the WBG, and the WTO

6. Expanding the Agenda at the WHO and the WIPO

7. Conclusion