Research On The Interaction Between States And Inter-Govemmental Organizations

After the cold war,international inter-governmental organizations incurred obvious changes of function,characteristics and behavior in the post-war international order system,the relationship between states and international inter-governmental organizations become more complexity: some inter-governmental international organizations still serve the interests of its members and even described as powers strategic tools,it is quite similar as the opinions of structural realism;some inter-governmental organizations are generally dominated by member states,although they sometimes explicitly deviate from member states' preferences in specific problem areas;some inter-governmental international organizations since the establishment,the vast majority of activities are no longer constrained by members' needs,they show the value goals and interests independent of the members state,and continue developing their own strength and expand their influence in the international community,even in turn shape the behavior of the member states.Faced with the complexity of this relationship,the international political theories that have long dominated the research of international organizations have gradually revealed their inadequacy in explanatory.International political theories try to explore the problem domain restrictions on behavior and characteristics of "states" in the international system,and therefore can neither completely put the preference and behavior of international intergovernmental organizations into consideration when it comes to the interactive relationship between the country and the government,nor to explain why international relations exist differences and changes? The principal-agent theory originated from economics,as a neutral tool and dimension to analyze and identify "relationship",provides a more scientific research framework for analyzing the interaction between states and international organizations.This theory starts from the assumption of "rational economic man" and points out that the relationship between subjects with authorization relationship will change with the interaction mode based on rationality.Chapter one: summarize and explain the theoretical basis of this research--the theoretical structure of "principal-agent" theory and its application in political science and international organization research according to the methodology of "scientific research program" of Lacatos.The first part expounds the origin,basic connotation of Lacatos' methodology of scientific research program and how to apply Lacatos' methodology of scientific research program to the analysis of specific theories.Lacatos' methodology of scientific research program believes that theory is essentially a knowledge structure,known as "research program",while "research program" is composed of an invariable "hard core" and a variable "protective belt".The second part analyzes the knowledge structure of the "principal-agent" theory in economics by using the methodology of the scientific research program of Lakatos,including the core assumption as the "hard core" and the basic auxiliary assumption as the "protective belt".The third part summarizes how the principal-agent theory,as a scientific research program,expands from the field of economics to the field of political science,and from the field of political science to the research of international organizations,realizing the progress and growth of the theory itself.Chapter two: to clarify the components of the interactive relationship between states and inter-governmental international organizations under the research framework of principal-agent theory.The relation between states and the inter-governmental organizations of national and inter-governmental organizations is made up of three elements :states as a client state,inter-governmental international organizations as a agent,and delegation from states to the intergovernmental organizations.The first part defines the states as the principal.In the sense of international law,only the sovereign states in the modern sense can become a member of the intergovernmental organizations.Therefore,this part clarifies the subject qualification of the state as the principal through the origin of the sovereign state and the difference with related concepts.The second part defines the intergovernmental international organizations as agents.In the early concept of international organizations,the concepts of "international organizations" and "intergovernmental international organizations" are mixed.However,with the emergence of non-governmental international organizations,it is necessary to distinguish intergovernmental international organizations from other types of non-state actors.The third part explains the delegation from states to intergovernmental international organizations.Under the "principal-agent" theory,member states become principals through delegation to intergovernmental international organizations,and intergovernmental international organizations become agents through being authorized of member states.The establishment and maintenance of the principal-agent relationship between a state and an intergovernmental international organization all depend on the state's authorization of the intergovernmental international organization.Chapter three: construct the analytical framework and knowledge structure of the interaction between the state and the intergovernmental international organizations from the perspective of the "principal-agent" theory research program.According to Lacatos' s "methodology of scientific research program",the knowledge structure of the relations between states and intergovernmental international organizations under the principal-agent theory is composed of the "hard core" of core assumptions and the "protection belt" of auxiliary assumptions.The core assumption of "principal-agent" theory about the interaction between states and intergovernmental international organizations is that both states and intergovernmental international organizations are rational actors,and there is information asymmetry between them.From the core assumption,"principal-agent" theory constructs corresponding auxiliary assumption around "why the state authorizes intergovernmental international organizations" and "how the state controls intergovernmental international organizations".In addition,as a scientific research program,"principal-agent" theory has developed itself through progressive "problem transformation" in response to the theoretical and empirical "anomalies" in this field,and developed new auxiliary assumptions to explain the interaction between states and intergovernmental international organizations.Chapter four: this chapter mainly analyzes the interaction between states and intergovernmental international organizations under the principal-agent theory.Based on the core assumption of the "principal-agent" theory,the reason why the state delegate the intergovernmental international organizations is that the state,as a rational actor,can gain more benefits from the delegation than other behaviors.However,the rational assumption of intergovernmental international organizations also means that they will try their best to maximize the benefits of the organization,and there is a tendency to deviate from the preferences of member states.Therefore,under the "principal-agent" theory,the interaction mode from states to intergovernmental international organizations is manifested as dependence and control to ensure the maximization of authorization revenue,while the interaction mode from intergovernmental international organizations to states is manifested as hedging the control mechanism imposed by states to strive for more independent space.Chapter five: the main content of this chapter is to judge and summarize the results of the interaction between states and intergovernmental international organizations,according to the logic of the research program of "principal-agent" theory and through the cases of three intergovernmental international organizations,namely the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO),the International Monetary Fund(IMF)and the World Health Organization(WHO).The principal-agent theory observes the differences in the relations between states and inter-governmental international organizations in different situations,and holds that the relationship between a state's interest preference and the actions of a particular inter-governmental international organization is not invariable and will change based on some major factors.The result of their interaction depends on the effect of the way in which the two sides interact,that is,to what extent intergovernmental international organizations can translate their independence preference into actual power.When states exert effective control over intergovernmental international organizations,such as the north Atlantic treaty organization(NATO),they will enjoy less autonomous space and capability.However,when the control mechanism of a country on an intergovernmental international organization is weak or difficult to play its role,the intergovernmental international organization will have more conditions and capacity to break away from the constraints and restrictions of member states and show different degrees of independence,such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organization.