Learning in International Organizations in Global Environmental Governance

Bernd Siebenhüner
Additional contact information
Bernd Siebenhüner: Bernd Siebenhüner is Professor of Ecological Economics at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. He is also deputy leader of the Global Governance Project (www.glogov.org). Bernd Siebenhüner holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Master's degrees in Economics and Political Science. His research interests include international organizations, global environmental governance, social learning, corporate sustainability strategies, and climate and biodiversity governance.

Global Environmental Politics, 2008, vol. 8, issue 4, pages 92-116

Abstract: In global environmental governance, numerous new international organizations have emerged from dozens of multilateral treaties signed over the last 30 years. This paper focuses on intergovernmental organizations in an organizational theory perspective with a particular focus on organizational learning processes. It explores where and when international organizations exhibit organizational learning with significant effects on the organizations' internal structure and behavior. Key hypotheses from principal-agent theory and organizational learning theory are tested in eight case studies of international organizations involved in global environmental governance. The analysis shows that organizations engage in three forms of learning: reflexive learning, adaptive learning, and no learning. Explanations of the observed variation depend on specific learning mechanisms, change agents in leadership functions and external triggers such as pressures from governments or nongovernmental actors. (c) 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Date: 2008

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/glep.2008.8.4.92 link to full text (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:8:y:2008:i:4:p:92-116

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/glep

Access Statistics for this article

Global Environmental Politics is edited by Peter Dauvergne

More articles in Global Environmental Politics from MIT Press
Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().