@article{DorschDoerfler2014, author = {Dorsch, Christian and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Organized hypocrisy of the international community}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Genozidforschung}, volume = {15}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Genozidforschung}, number = {1-2}, publisher = {Velbr{\"u}ck Wissenschaft}, address = {Weilerswist}, issn = {1438-8332}, doi = {10.5771/1438-8332-2014-1-2-8}, pages = {8 -- 31}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @incollection{HosliDoerfler2015, author = {Hosli, Madeleine O. and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {The United Nations Security Council}, series = {Rising powers and multilateral institutions (International Political Economy Series)}, booktitle = {Rising powers and multilateral institutions (International Political Economy Series)}, editor = {Lesage, Dries and Van de Graaf, Thijs}, publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan}, address = {London}, isbn = {978-1-349-48504-8}, doi = {10.1057/9781137397607_8}, pages = {135 -- 152}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the most important multilateral institutions having the ambition to shape global governance and the only organ of the global community that can adopt legally binding resolutions for the maintenance of international peace and security and, if necessary, authorize the use of force. Created in the aftermath of World War II by its victors, the UNSC's constellation looks increasingly anachronistic, however, in light of the changing global distribution of power. Adapting the institutional structure and decision-making procedures of the UNSC has proven to be one of the most difficult challenges of the last decades, while it is the institution that has probably been faced with the most vociferous calls for reform. Although there have been changes to the informal ways in which outside actors are drawn into the UNSC's work and activities, many of the major players in the current international system seem to be deprived from equal treatment in its core patterns of decision-making. Countries such as Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, alongside emerging African nations such as Nigeria and South Africa, are among the states eager to secure permanent representation on the Council. By comparison, selected BRICS countries, China and Russia - in contrast to their role in other multilateral institutions - are permanent members of the UNSC and with this, have been "insiders" for a long time. This renders the situation of the UNSC different from global institutions, in which traditionally, Western powers have dominated the agenda.}, language = {en} } @article{DoerflerGehring2015, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas and Gehring, Thomas}, title = {Wie internationale Organisationen durch die Strukturierung von Entscheidungsprozessen Autonomie gewinnen}, series = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS ; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\"u}r Politische Wissenschaft. Sonderheft: Internationale Organisationen: Autonomie, Politisierung, interorganisationale Beziehungen und Wandel}, journal = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : PVS ; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\"u}r Politische Wissenschaft. Sonderheft: Internationale Organisationen: Autonomie, Politisierung, interorganisationale Beziehungen und Wandel}, number = {49}, publisher = {Nomos}, address = {Baden-Baden}, isbn = {978-3-8452-4851-6}, doi = {10.5771/9783845248516-59}, pages = {54 -- 80}, year = {2015}, language = {de} } @article{StollenwerkDoerflerSchibberges2016, author = {Stollenwerk, Eric and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas and Schibberges, Julian}, title = {Taking a new perspective}, series = {Terrorism and political violence}, volume = {28}, journal = {Terrorism and political violence}, number = {5}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {London}, issn = {0954-6553}, doi = {10.1080/09546553.2014.987341}, pages = {950 -- 970}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Network analysis has attracted significant attention when researching the phenomenon of transnational terrorism, particularly Al Qaeda. While many scholars have made valuable contributions to mapping Al Qaeda, several problems remain due to a lack of data and the omission of data provided by international organizations such as the UN. Thus, this article applies a social network analysis and subsequent mappings of the data gleaned from the Security Council's consolidated sanctions list, and asks what they can demonstrate about the structure and organizational characteristics of Al Qaeda. The study maps the Al Qaeda network on a large scale using a newly compiled data set. The analysis reveals that the Al Qaeda network consists of several hundred individual and group nodes connecting almost all over the globe. Several major nodes are crucial for the network structure, while simultaneously many other nodes only weakly and foremost regionally connect to the network. The article concludes that the findings tie in well to the latest research pointing to local and simultaneously global elements of Al Qaeda, and that the new data is a valuable source for further analyses, potentially in combination with other data.}, language = {en} } @article{DoerflerHolzingerBiesenbender2017, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas and Holzinger, Katharina and Biesenbender, Jan}, title = {Constitutional Dynamics in the European Union}, series = {International Journal of Public Administration}, volume = {40}, journal = {International Journal of Public Administration}, number = {14}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {Philadelphia}, issn = {0190-0692}, doi = {10.1080/01900692.2017.1295267}, pages = {1237 -- 1249}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Despite high institutional hurdles for constitutional change, one observes surprisingly many EU treaty revisions. This article takes up the questions of what determines whether a treaty provision is successfully changed and why provisions are renegotiated at subsequent Intergovernmental Conferences. The article presents an institutionalist theory explaining success and renegotiation and tests the theory using all core institutional provisions by means of Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The causal analysis shows that low conflict potential of an issue is sufficient for successfully changing the treaties. Furthermore, high conflict potential of an issue and its fundamental change are sufficient for it to be renegotiated.}, language = {en} } @article{Doerfler2018, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Die Sanktionsaussch{\"u}sse zwischen Macht und Regeln}, series = {Vereinte Nationen : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r die Vereinten Nationen und ihre Sonderorganisationen}, volume = {66}, journal = {Vereinte Nationen : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r die Vereinten Nationen und ihre Sonderorganisationen}, number = {2}, publisher = {BWV}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0042-384X}, pages = {62 -- 66}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Sanktionen sind ein wichtiges Instrument des UN-Sicherheitsrats zur Erhaltung des Weltfriedens. Viele zentrale Entscheidungen, wie etwa die Listung und Entlistung terrorverd{\"a}chtiger Personen, werden fernab der {\"O}ffentlichkeit in Sanktionsaussch{\"u}ssen getroffen. Die Einsetzung dieser Aussch{\"u}sse hat die Entscheidungsdynamiken im Rat erheblich ver{\"a}ndert.}, language = {de} } @article{GehringDoerfler2019, author = {Gehring, Thomas and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Constitutive mechanisms of UN Security Council practices}, series = {Review of International Studies}, volume = {45}, journal = {Review of International Studies}, number = {1}, publisher = {Univ.}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {0260-2105}, doi = {10.1017/S0260210518000268}, pages = {120 -- 140}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Based upon the current debate on international practices with its focus on taken-for-granted everyday practices, we examine how Security Council practices may affect member state action and collective decisions on intrastate conflicts. We outline a concept that integrates the structuring effect of practices and their emergence from interaction among reflective actors. It promises to overcome the unresolved tension between understanding practices as a social regularity and as a fluid entity. We analyse the constitutive mechanisms of two Council practices that affect collective decisions on intrastate conflicts and elucidate how even reflective Council members become enmeshed with the constraining implications of evolving practices and their normative implications. (1) Previous Council decisions create precedent pressure and give rise to a virtually uncontested permissive Council practice that defines the purview for intervention into such conflicts. (2) A ratcheting practice forces opponents to choose between accepting steadily reinforced Council action, as occurred regarding Sudan/Darfur, and outright blockade, as in the case of Syria. We conclude that practices constitute a source of influence that is not captured by the traditional perspectives on Council activities as the consequence of geopolitical interests or of externally evolving international norms like the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P).}, language = {en} } @book{Doerfler2019, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Security council sanctions governance}, series = {Routledge research on the United Nations ; 6}, journal = {Routledge research on the United Nations ; 6}, publisher = {Routledge}, address = {London}, isbn = {978-0-42944-232-2}, doi = {10.4324/9780429442322}, pages = {xiii, 239}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Little is known about how far-reaching decisions in UN Security Council sanctions committees are made. Developing a novel committee governance concept and using examples drawn from sanctions imposed on Iraq, Al-Qaida, Congo, Sudan and Iran, this book shows that Council members tend to follow the will of the powerful, whereas sanctions committee members often decide according to the rules. This is surprising since both Council and committees are staffed by the same member states. Offering a fascinating account of Security Council micro-politics and decision-making processes on sanctions, this rigorous comparative and theory-driven analysis treats the Council and its sanctions committees as distinguishable entities that may differ in decision practice despite having the same members. Drawing extensively on primary documents, diplomatic cables, well-informed press coverage, reports by close observers and extensive interviews with committee members, Council diplomats and sanctions experts, it contrasts with the conventional wisdom on decision-making within these bodies, which suggests that the powerful permanent members would not accept rule-based decisions against their interests. This book will be of interest to policy practitioners and scholars working in the broad field of international organizations and international relations theory as well as those specializing in sanctions, international law, the Security Council and counter-terrorism.}, language = {en} } @article{GehringDorschDoerfler2019, author = {Gehring, Thomas and Dorsch, Christian and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Precedent and doctrine in organisational decision-making}, series = {Journal of international relations and development}, volume = {22}, journal = {Journal of international relations and development}, number = {1}, publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan}, address = {Basingstoke}, issn = {1581-1980}, doi = {10.1057/s41268-017-0101-5}, pages = {107 -- 135}, year = {2019}, abstract = {We examine how and under what conditions informal institutional constraints, such as precedent and doctrine, are likely to affect collective choice within international organisations even in the absence of powerful bureaucratic agents. With a particular focus on the United Nations Security Council, we first develop a theoretical account of why such informal constraints might affect collective decisions even of powerful and strategically behaving actors. We show that precedents provide focal points that allow adopting collective decisions in coordination situations despite diverging preferences. Reliance on previous cases creates tacitly evolving doctrine that may develop incrementally. Council decision-making is also likely to be facilitated by an institutional logic of escalation driven by institutional constraints following from the typically staged response to crisis situations. We explore the usefulness of our theoretical argument with evidence from the Council doctrine on terrorism that has evolved since 1985. The key decisions studied include the 1992 sanctions resolution against Libya and the 2001 Council response to the 9/11 attacks. We conclude that, even within intergovernmentally structured international organisations, member states do not operate on a clean slate, but in a highly institutionalised environment that shapes their opportunities for action.}, language = {en} } @incollection{HosliDoerfler2020, author = {Hosli, Madeleine and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {The United Nations Security Council}, series = {The Changing Global Order : Challenges and Prospects}, booktitle = {The Changing Global Order : Challenges and Prospects}, editor = {Hosli, Madeleine O. and Selleslaghs, Joren}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-030-21603-0}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-21603-0_15}, pages = {299 -- 320}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The chapter explores how the Security Council has reacted to the changing global order in terms of institutional reform and its working methods. First, we look at how the Security Council's setup looks increasingly anachronistic against the tremendous shifts in global power. Yet, established and rising powers are not disengaging. In contrast, they are turning to the Council to address growing challenges posed by the changing nature of armed conflict, the surge of terrorism and foreign fighters, nuclear proliferation and persistent intra-state conflicts. Then, we explore institutional and political hurdles for Council reform. While various reform models have been suggested, none of them gained the necessary global support. Instead, we demonstrate how the Council has increased the representation of emerging powers in informal ways. Potential candidates for permanent seats and their regional counterparts are committed as elected members, peacekeeping contributors or within the Peacebuilding Commission. Finally, we analyze how innovatively the Council has reacted to global security challenges. This includes working methods reform, expansion of sanctions regimes and involvement of non-state actors. We conclude that even though the Council's membership has not yet been altered, it has reacted to the changing global order in ways previously unaccounted for.}, language = {en} } @article{DoerflerGehring2021, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas and Gehring, Thomas}, title = {Analogy-based collective decision-making and incremental change in international organizations}, series = {European journal of international relations}, volume = {27}, journal = {European journal of international relations}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sage}, address = {London}, issn = {1354-0661}, doi = {10.1177/1354066120987889}, pages = {753 -- 778}, year = {2021}, abstract = {We examine how analogy-based collective decision-making of member states contributes to the endogenous emergence of informal rules and the incremental change of international organizations (IOs). Decision-making by analogy is an important characteristic of day-to-day decision-making in IOs. Relating current decisions to previous ones through analogies drives incremental change and simultaneously reinforces organizational resilience. Whereas the foreign policy analysis literature shows that analogies can be used as cognitive shortcuts in fuzzy and complex foreign policy situations, we focus on their use to overcome social ambiguity (indeterminacy) of coordination situations in IOs. Drawing on psychological conceptions, we develop two micro-level mechanisms that elucidate the effects of analogy-based collective decision-making in member-driven IOs. Analogy-based collective decisions emphasizing similarity between a current situation and previous ones follow an established problem schema and produce expansive and increasingly well-established informal rules. Collective decisions that are analogy-based but emphasize a crucial difference follow different problem schemas and trigger the emergence of additional informal rules that apply to new classes of cases. The result is an increasingly fine-grained web of distinct organizational solutions for a growing number of problems. Accordingly, an IO can increasingly facilitate collective decision-making and gains resilience. Empirically, we probe these propositions with a documentary analysis of decision-making in the Yugoslavia sanctions committee, established by the United Nations Security Council to deal with a stream of requests for exempting certain goods or services from the comprehensive economic embargo imposed on Yugoslavia in response to the War in the Balkans.}, language = {en} } @article{HeldtDoerfler2021, author = {Heldt, Eugenia C. and D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Orchestrating private investors for development}, series = {Regulation \& governance}, volume = {16}, journal = {Regulation \& governance}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken, NJ}, issn = {1748-5983}, doi = {10.1111/rego.12432}, pages = {1382 -- 1398}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Confronted with a new wave of criticism on the in effectiveness of its development programs, the World Bank embarked on a revitalization process, turning to private investors to finance International Development Association projects and widening its mandate. To explain these adaptation strategies of the World Bank to regain relevance, this piece draws on organizational ecology and orchestration scholarship. We contend that international organizations rely on two adaptation mechanisms, orchestration and scope expansion, when they lose their role as focal actors in an issue area. We find that the World Bank has indeed lost market share and has relied on these two mechanisms to revitalize itself. We show that the World Bank responded to changes in the environment by orchestrating a private sector-oriented capital increase, prioritizing private funding for development through a "cascade approach," and expanding the scope of its mandate into adjacent domains of transnational governance, including climate change and global health.}, language = {en} } @techreport{Doerfler2021, type = {Working Paper}, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Interface challenges of UN sanctions with forums of export control}, series = {International sanctions: improving implementation through better interface management}, journal = {International sanctions: improving implementation through better interface management}, editor = {Lohmann, Sascha and Vorrath, Judith}, publisher = {Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik}, address = {Berlin}, pages = {23 -- 31}, year = {2021}, language = {en} } @article{Doerfler2022, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {The effect of expert recommendations on intergovernmental decision-making}, series = {International relations : the journal of the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies}, volume = {36}, journal = {International relations : the journal of the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies}, number = {2}, publisher = {Sage}, address = {London}, issn = {0047-1178}, doi = {10.1177/00471178211033941}, pages = {237 -- 261}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The article explores whether and to what extent expert recommendations affect decision-making within the Security Council and its North Korea and Iran sanctions regimes. The article first develops a rationalist theoretical argument to show why making many second-stage decisions, such as determining lists of items under export restrictions, subjects Security Council members to repeating coordination situations. Expert recommendations may provide focal point solutions to coordination problems, even when interests diverge and preferences remain stable. Empirically, the article first explores whether expert recommendations affected decision-making on commodity sanctions imposed on North Korea. Council members heavily relied on recommended export trigger lists as focal points, solving a divisive conflict among great powers. Second, the article explores whether expert recommendations affected the designation of sanctions violators in the Iran sanctions regime. Council members designated individuals and entities following expert recommendations as focal points, despite conflicting interests among great powers. The article concludes that expert recommendations are an additional means of influence in Security Council decision-making and seem relevant for second-stage decision-making among great powers in other international organisations.}, language = {en} } @article{DoerflerHeinzel2022, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas and Heinzel, Mirko Noa}, title = {Greening global governance}, series = {The review of international organizations}, volume = {18}, journal = {The review of international organizations}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Boston}, issn = {1559-7431}, doi = {10.1007/s11558-022-09462-4}, pages = {117 -- 143}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The last decades have seen a remarkable expansion in the number of International Organizations (IOs) that have mainstreamed environmental issues into their policy scope—in many cases due to the pressure of civil society. We hypothesize that International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), whose headquarters are in proximity to the headquarters of IOs, are more likely to affect IOs' expansion into the environmental domain. We test this explanation by utilizing a novel dataset on the strength of environmental global civil society in proximity to the headquarters of 76 IOs between 1950 and 2017. Three findings stand out. First, the more environmental INGOs have their secretariat in proximity to the headquarter of an IO, the more likely the IO mainstreams environmental policy. Second, proximate INGOs' contribution increases when they can rely on domestically focused NGOs in member states. Third, a pathway case reveals that proximate INGOs played an essential role in inside lobbying, outside lobbying and information provision during the campaign to mainstream environmental issues at the World Bank. However, their efforts relied to a substantial extent on the work of local NGOs on the ground.}, language = {en} } @article{Doerfler2023, author = {D{\"o}rfler, Thomas}, title = {Why rules matter: shaping security council sanctions policy in counterterrorism and beyond}, series = {Journal of global security studies}, volume = {8}, journal = {Journal of global security studies}, number = {1}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {2057-3170}, doi = {10.1093/jogss/ogac041}, pages = {19}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Sanctions are critical to the Security Council's efforts to fight terrorism. What is striking is that the Council's sanctions regimes are subject to detailed sets of rules and decision criteria. The scholarship on human rights in counterterrorism assumes that rights advocacy and court litigation have prompted this development. The article complements this literature by highlighting an unexplored internal driver of legal-regulatory decision-making and explores how mixed-motive interest constellations among Security Council members have affected the extent of committee regulations and the content of decisions taken by sanctions committees. Based on internal documents and diplomatic cables, a comparative analysis of the Iraq sanctions regime and the counterterrorism sanctions regime demonstrates that mixed-motive interest constellations among Security Council members provide incentives to elaborate rules to guide decision-making resulting in legal-regulatory sanctions governance, even if the human rights of targeted individuals are not at stake. For comparative leverage and to assess the limits of the proposed mechanism, the analysis is briefly extended to other sanctions regimes targeting individuals (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan). The findings have implications for this essential tool of the Security Council to react to threats to peace as diverse as counterterrorism, nonproliferation, and internal armed conflict.}, language = {en} }