International Organizations In The System Changes And System Adaptability

Researching on IOs is the important component of international relations'studies. Although more and more scholars began to research the institutional change issues in IOs, literature about the dynamics and path of institution change is still very little. In this dissertation, I use the relevant theories explaining dynamics, path and inertia of institution change about IEA, exploring the reasons that IEA still exists, yet thirty years after its foundation. In other words, the dissertation's central theme is the institutional adaptability of IOs. To achieve the research purpose, this paper designs the institutional adaptability as dependent variable and the five key dimensions of IOs as independent variables, structuring the variables'relations between institution change and adaptability about IEA.To explain IEA's institutional adaptability, this dissertation focuses on the path and inertia of institutional changes. To this end, invoking the three political science theories—Rational Choice Institutionalism, Historical Institutionalism and Sociological Institutionalism—which derived from the"New Institutionalism", the author posits three hypotheses respectively to explain the institutional change path and inertia feature in IEA. According to"Rational Choice Institutionalism"theory, the degree of independence of IOs'is restricted, the institutional evolution is constrained by the expectations and preferences of member states. Accordingly, a first hypothesis posits that member states of the IEA have determined the institutional evolution by taking"deliberate choices"in response to changing energy conditions in international society. The"Historical Institutionalism"theory indicates that changes in international institutions are carried out under the context of existing institution that constrains the"deliberate choices"made by the member states, which reflects the characteristics so-called"path dependence"in the process of international institution changes. In this view, a second hypothesis states that the basic institutional contours of IEA have left the arrangements. The"Sociological Institutionalism"states that the IOs in its own institutional change can be active agents, not be considered as merely passive optional objects. A third hypothesis therefore suggests that the IEA's secretariet can be regarded as an independent actor that successfully promotes its own agenda and interests.After thirty years'institution adjustment, IEA has evolved from the initial mission to manage oil supply crisis into focusing more on the gathering and disseminating of energy statistics and assessing the various policy scenarios. In other words, a policy adviser about the global energy governance. By examining IEA's institution change and adaptability, this paper contributes to exploring the dynamics and path of IOs'institution change in general sense, adding the theoretical and empirical analysis of international institution change. From the social value, the research contributes to finding the features and trends on IEA's institution change. As today's international energy environment has undergone major change, the orientation and process of IEA's institution adjustment determine the breadth and depth of adaptability, i.e., whether it is possible for IEA to become a institutional management platform for the global energy governance. This is currently one of the core issues about international energy cooperation.