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On a small scale
(2018)
This study argues that micro relations matter in peacekeeping. Asking what makes the implementation of peacekeeping interventions complex and how complexity is resolved, I find that formal, contractual mechanisms only rarely effectively reduce complexity – and that micro relations fill this gap. Micro relations are personal relationships resulting from frequent face-to-face interaction in professional and – equally importantly – social contexts.
This study offers an explanation as to why micro relations are important for coping with complexity, in the form of a causal mechanism. For this purpose, I bring together theoretical and empirical knowledge: I draw upon the current debate on ‘institutional complexity’ (Greenwood et al. 2011) in organizational institutionalism as well as original empirical evidence from a within-case study of the peacekeeping intervention in Haiti, gained in ten weeks of field research. In this study, scholarship on institutional complexity serves to identify theoretical causal channels which guide empirical analysis. An additional, secondary aim is pursued with this mechanism-centered approach: testing the utility of Beach and Pedersen’s (2013) theory-testing process tracing.
Regarding the first research question – what makes the implementation of peacekeeping interventions complex –, the central finding is that complexity manifests itself in the dual role of organizations as cooperation partners and competitors for (scarce) resources, turf and influence. UN organizations, donor agencies and international NGOs implementing peacekeeping activities in post-conflict environments have chronic difficulty mastering both roles because they entail contradictory demands: effective cooperation requires information exchange, resource and responsibility-sharing as well as external scrutiny, whereas prevailing over competitors demands that organizations conceal information, guard resources, increase relative turf and influence, as well as shield themselves from scrutiny. Competition fuels organizational distrust and friction – and impedes cooperation.
How is this complexity resolved? The answer to this second research question is that deep-seated organizational competition is routinely mediated – and cooperation motivated – in micro relations and micro interaction. Regular, frequent face-to-face interaction between individual organizational members generates social resources that help to transcend organizational distrust and conflict, most importantly familiarity with each other, personal trust and belief in reciprocity. Furthermore, informal conflict mediation and control mechanisms – namely, open discussion, mutual monitoring in direct interaction and social exclusion – enhance solidarity and mutual support.
Through IOs' Eyes
(2018)
Is global governance characterized by overlap and fragmentation, or by coordination and harmonization? There are two rather different narratives about the worlds in which international organizations (IOs) live. One way or another, IOs are part of a broader environment and engage in relations with other actors in it. Rather than being detached from their environment, IOs are shaped by and respond to developments taking place within it (e.g., overlap). Thus, the general research interest of this dissertation lies in organizational responses to such environmental developments. Therein, the emphasis is placed on IO positionality, meaning the position of an IO within a “web” of interorganizational relations, or, more precisely, an IO’s position within an organizational field as a specification of the IO environment.
Against this background, the dissertation poses the following research question: How does an IO’s position within an organizational field shape its responses to developments of the field? In that, three subquestions are advanced: Which position does an IO occupy within the organizational field? How does an IO perceive the organizational field? How does an IO respond to developments and features of the field? Theoretically, the dissertation combines an open system perspective on IOs with two variants of field theory inspired by Bourdieu and by DiMaggio and Powell. Building on the central concept of the organizational field, the dissertation understands IOs as actors with agency. Empirically, the dissertation consists of a qualitative, comparative study and analyzes two IOs located within the organizational field of global food security governance. I select IOs that occupy different positions within the field of food security governance, namely an IO at the core of the field (the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO) and an IO at the periphery of the field (the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, or UNIDO). I compare and analyze their respective perceptions of the field of food security governance, including their own role and their understandings of food security, and their responses over time. To investigate these IOs’ perceptions and responses over time, the method of choice consists of a qualitative content analysis of a wide range of organizational documents (e.g., governing bodies’ reports).
The main argument this dissertation advances is as follows: The position that an IO occupies within an organizational field influences how the organization perceives its environment—in particular, features of and developments within this environment. Against this background, the main findings of this dissertation are as follows: Overall, FAO and UNIDO both perceive proliferation, overlap, and duplication as relevant developments of the organizational field of global food security governance over time. While both IOs see developments in the field of food security governance (e.g., overlap and duplication) as problematic given their detrimental effects for food security governance, FAO and UNIDO differ in decisive regards. Whereas FAO holds a narrative that other actors were responsible for this state of affairs, and thus responsible for reducing or even eliminating overlap and duplication, UNIDO perceives these developments differently. UNIDO acknowledges its own role in the development of overlap and duplication, and therefore also sees a role for itself in addressing these developments. The two IOs thus differ in what they understand to be the causes and historical priors of field-specific developments. Furthermore, while both FAO and UNIDO attempt to demonstrate that they are constructive players within the UN development system, the two IOs differ in their responses: While FAO engages in balancing by voicing its commitment to UN processes and to coordination, yet early on making different reservations, UNIDO, in contrast, engages in UN processes without similar reservations. Accordingly, the two IOs also differ on the responses they employ to field-level harmonization demands.
The dissertation makes several contributions. Theoretically, I contribute an innovative argument on the influence of perceptions for organizational responses to developments in the IOs’ environment. This argument may help us to better understand how IOs as actors embedded within an organizational field deal with changes evolving within these fields. Empirically, I scrutinize developments in food security governance, such as proliferation and overlap, through the eyes of IOs in the field. While proliferation, overlap, and duplication are often referred to in academic debates on food security governance, we do not yet actually understand these phenomena very well. To this, I contribute a study that analyzes IO perceptions of these developments in the field, thus resulting in a more in-depth and nuanced picture of how IOs perceive these developments as a central type of actor in food security governance. Next, to this emphasis on the IO perspective, I also inductively develop a spectrum of IO responses to field developments, ranging from expanding scope to defending turf. Finally, I also make a methodological-conceptual contribution: While concepts such as “position” are well-known, they are sometimes drawn on without developing a clear foundation of how to assess different positions. I thus add an approach for bringing this concept of position to life by developing a range of criteria that can be used to approximate an IO’s position within an organizational field, depending on different types of capital.
Die Republik Kosovo stellt einen Beitrittskandidaten sui generis in der Erweiterungsgeschichte der Europäischen Union dar. Die besonderen Beziehungen zwischen der EU und dem "potenziellen" Kandidaten resultieren aus dem ungelösten Territorialkonflikt mit Serbien, dem unvollendeten Staatsaufbau sowie der eingeschränkten Souveränität Kosovos. Diese Einzelfallstudie untersucht Kosovos Integrationsprozess in den Staatenverbund im Kontext der Spezifika des Beitrittsaspiranten, der stockenden EU-Südosterweiterung und der multiplen EU-Krise. Davon ausgehend werden vier Zukunftsszenarien für Kosovos Integrationsverlauf, auch mit Blick auf differenzierte Integrationsoptionen, entwickelt.
Entwicklung eines Instrumentes zur Messung von Präsentismus und Handlungsempfehlungen zur Reduktion
(2018)
Dass sich die repräsentative Demokratie in Deutschland im Wandel befindet, ist nicht neu und kaum umstritten. Herausforderungen im Kontext der Partizipation und Repräsentation rufen ihrerseits Probleme auf Seiten der Input-Legitimation hervor. Demgemäß ist das grundlegende demokratiepolitische Anliegen dieser Arbeit, am Beispiel der Bundes- und Berliner Landesebene darzustellen, wie der repräsentative Politikprozess partizipativer und dennoch effektiv gestaltet werden kann. Basierend auf der philosophischen Strömung des Pragmatismus verfolgt und diskutiert die Arbeit die Synthese aus der pragmatistischen Demokratiekonzeption von Archon Fung und dem empirischen Forschungsprogramm der kriterienbasierten Evaluation demokratischer Innovationen. Dabei wird das analytische Vorgehen Archon Fungs kritisch erweitert, um dem dieser Arbeit zugrunde liegenden Konzept einer komplexen Bürgergesellschaft – als normativer und praktischer Bezugspunkt – gerecht zu werden. Fungs Konzept wird demnach um die liberale Sphäre der Öffentlichkeit, mithin um die zivilgesellschaftlichen Handlungszusammenhänge ergänzt. Auf Grundlage der Diskussion von demokratischen Innovationen werden schließlich demokratie- und engagementpolitische Handlungsempfehlungen in der Dimension der Partizipation und in der Dimension der Repräsentation formuliert. Mithin verfolgt die Arbeit eine problem- und lösungsorientierte Ergänzung der repräsentativen Demokratie. Gleichwohl ist die Arbeit als eine pragmatistisch angeleitete Konzeptstudie für die Entwicklung einer beteiligungsorientierten Praxis in der repräsentativen Demokratie zu verstehen, die trotz ihres theoretischen Charakters ganz im Sinne des Pragmatismus die notwendige empirische Orientierung aufweist. Damit wird das zuweilen problematische Verhältnis zwischen Politischer Theorie und empirischer Demokratieforschung überwunden.
Der organisierte Fall
(2018)
Stefanie Büchner untersucht in ihrer qualitativ-explorativen Studie die Fallbearbeitung in drei Jugendämtern. Sie zeigt, dass sich die Bearbeitung von Fällen nur unzureichend verstehen lässt, wenn man Organisationen primär als Rahmen begreift oder auf ihre formale Logik reduziert. Vielmehr strukturieren Organisationen als soziale Systeme Fallbearbeitung modular. Fünf Module der Strukturierung stehen im Zentrum der Untersuchung: Wie werden Fälle arbeitsteilig bearbeitet und wie schlägt sich Organisation in der Zusammenarbeit mit Klientinnen und Klienten nieder? Wie lässt sich die unterschiedliche Relevanz von Standards beschreiben? Worin besteht die Herausforderung für Jugendämter, Hilfe und Eingriff zu verantworten und was dokumentiert sich in Dokumentation? Für die Beantwortung dieser Fragen plädiert die Autorin für ein komplexes, allgemeines und spezifisches Verständnis von Organisationen im Feld sozialer Hilfe.