How meta-organizations influence their social environment: the case of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea

Kurt Rachlitz, Michael Grothe-Hammer and Jennifer Leigh Bailey

Chapter 7 in A World of Meta-Organizations, 2026, pp 121-147 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: We offer a systems-theoretical conceptualization of modes of influence for meta-organization theory based on the analysis of a concrete case: the history of the world's oldest intergovernmental marine science organization, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The theoretical assertion that structures our analysis is that modern society is differentiated into societal domains (such as the political, scientific, and economic) and that organizations and meta-organizations are critical social forms that influence these domains. Based on an analytical framework consisting of three dimensions of influence (fact, social, time), our analysis shows that the influence of ICES has changed considerably over three phases in the course of the last 120 years. From this, we theorize three different modes of influence of meta-organizations, which we call ‘emergent’, ‘decided’, and ‘adaptive’. We explicate these dimensions, phases, and modes of influence and suggest how they can be applied in further research.

Keywords: Meta-Organization; Influence; Theory of Society; ICES; Ocean Governance; Marine Science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035342211
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