Lecture Series Jan 2019: Monika Krause › view all

"The Units of Global Governance: Evidence from Three Sets of International NGOs"

January 16, 2019 - 14:15h/2:15pm
University of Bremen, UNICOM-Building House 9, Conference Room (7.3280)
Mary-Somerville-Str. 9
28359 Bremen
Series: Social Sciences Lecture Series
Event type: public

Monika Krause, Assistant Professor in Sociology at the London School of Economics, gives a talk on "The Units of Global Governance: Evidence from Three Sets of International NGOs" in the Bremen Social Sciences Lecture Series. The lecture takes place at at the University of Bremen, Unicom-Building 9 (BIGSSS Conference Room 7.3280), at 14:15hrs on January 16, 2019.

 

Abstract:

Humanitarian relief NGOs, human rights NGOs and environmental conservation NGOs all subscribe to global values that are in some sense universal or boundless. How do managers in such organizations make decisions about how to allocate resources, and how to manage their commitments to specific causes, specific people and specific territorial units? This paper draws on interview research with mid-level decision makers in a diverse sample of humanitarian relief NGOs, international human rights organisations, and international conservation organisation to answer these questions.

Monika Krause argues that the ways, in which “units of work” are constructed in these organizations play an important role in pre-structuring decisions about the distribution of resources: Humanitarian relief agencies deliver “projects” in a range of pre-set thematic areas, conservation NGOs’ activities are structured around threatened species and areas as well as a specific set of “solutions”, such as setting up protected areas”, which are applied across contexts. Human Rights NGOs organize a broad but limited repertoire of practice into projects. All global NGOs have country-specific programmes, which means they have focus countries and countries they do not work in or on. In all cases, the distribution of resources to “problems” or “causes” in the world is mediated by structures internal to NGOs, with implications which will be discussed.

 

About the Bremen Social Sciences Lecture Series:

Each semester BIGSSS, SOCIUM, InIIS and CRC 1342 invite a mix of established and young scholars to present their work to students and faculty as well as to the wider interested public. Taking place every month during the semester, the Bremen Social Sciences Lecture Series is the central meeting point for the research institutes and graduate school and provides an excellent opportunity for engaging in intensive, interdisciplinary, scholarly debate.