Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-8cg97 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-15T00:29:40.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deference and Hierarchy in International Regime Complexes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2018

Tyler Pratt
Get access

Abstract

How do states resolve jurisdictional conflicts among international institutions? In many issue areas, global governance is increasingly fragmented among multiple international organizations (IOs). Existing work argues this fragmentation can undermine cooperation as different institutions adopt conflicting rules. However, this perspective overlooks the potential for interinstitutional coordination. I develop a theory of institutional deference: the acceptance of another IO's exercise of authority. By accepting rules crafted in another IO, member states can mitigate rule conflict and facilitate a division of labor within the regime complex. I use an original data set of over 2,000 IO policy documents to describe patterns of deference in the counterterrorism, intellectual property, and election-monitoring regime complexes. Empirical tests support two theoretical claims. First, institutional deference is indeed associated with a division of labor among institutions: IOs that defer to each other are more likely to focus their rule-making efforts on separate subissues. Second, deference is a strategic act that is shaped both by efficiency concerns and power politics. Statistical tests confirm that deference is used to efficiently pool resources among disparate organizations, and that IOs with weaker member states tend to defer to organizations with more powerful members.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Organization , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , Summer 2018 , pp. 561 - 590
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Zangl, Bernhard, and Snidal, Duncan. 2015. International Organizations as Orchestrators. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Aggarwal, Vinod K. 1998. Institutional Designs for a Complex World: Bargaining, Linkages, and Nesting. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J., and Meunier, Sophie. 2009. The Politics of International Regime Complexity. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):13–24.Google Scholar
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. 2002. APEC Statement on Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Growth, 26 October. Available at <http://www.apec.org/Meeting-Papers/Leaders-Declarations/2002/2002_aelm/statement_on_fighting.aspx>..>Google Scholar
Benvenisti, Eyal, and Downs, George W.. 2007. The Empire's New Clothes: Political Economy and the Fragmentation of International Law. Tel Aviv University Legal Working Paper Series 41.Google Scholar
Biermann, Frank, Pattberg, Philipp, Van Asselt, Harro, and Zelli, Fariborz. 2009. The Fragmentation of Global Governance Architectures: A Framework for Analysis. Global Environmental Politics 9 (4):14–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blei, David M. 2012. Probabilistic Topic Models. Communications of the ACM 55 (4):77–84.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen, and Keohane, Robert O.. 2006. The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions. Ethics and International Affairs 20 (4):405–37.Google Scholar
Collins, Lawrence, Morse, C.G., McClean, David, Briggs, Adrian, Harris, Jonathan, McLachlan, Campbell, Dickinson, Andrew, and McEleavy, Peter. 2006. Dicey, Morris, and Collins on the Conflict of Laws. London: Thomson Sweet and Maxwell.Google Scholar
Correlates of War Project. 2011. State System Membership List, v2011. Available at <http://correlatesofwar.org>..>Google Scholar
Davis, Christina L. 2009. Overlapping Institutions in Trade Policy. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):25–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, George W., Rocke, David M., and Barsoom, Peter N.. 1996. Is the Good News About Compliance Good News About Cooperation? International Organization 50 (3):379–406.Google Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W. 2009. The Power and Peril of International Regime Complexity. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):65–70.Google Scholar
Efrat, Asif, and Newman, Abraham L. 2016. Deciding to Defer: The Importance of Fairness in Resolving Transnational Jurisdictional Conflicts. International Organization 70 (2):409–41.Google Scholar
European Parliament. 2010. European Parliament Resolution of 16 December 2010 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2009 and the European Union's Policy on the Matter. <https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/a013e723-b63b-11e1-b84a-01aa75ed71a1/language-en>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=European+Parliament.+2010.+European+Parliament+Resolution+of+16+December+2010+on+the+Annual+Report+on+Human+Rights+in+the+World+2009+and+the+European+Union's+Policy+on+the+Matter.+.>Google Scholar
European Union. 2008. EU Election Observation Mission Final Report: Nepal Constituent Assembly Election. Available at <http://www.eods.eu/library/FR%20NEPAL%2009.2008_en.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Gehring, Thomas, and Faude, Benjamin. 2014. A Theory of Emerging Order Within Institutional Complexes: How Competition Among Regulatory International Institutions Leads to Institutional Adaptation and Division of Labor. The Review of International Organizations 9 (4):471–98.Google Scholar
Hawkins, Darren G., Lake, David A., Nielson, Daniel L., and Tierney, Michael J.. 2006. Delegation and Agency in International Organizations. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helfer, Laurence R. 2004. Regime Shifting: The TRIPS Agreement and New Dynamics of International Intellectual Property Lawmaking. Yale Journal of International Law 29:1–83.Google Scholar
Helfer, Laurence R. 2009. Regime Shifting in the International Intellectual Property System. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):39–44.Google Scholar
Hooghe, Liesbet, and Marks, Gary. 2015. Delegation and Pooling in International Organizations. The Review of International Organizations 10 (3):305–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights in China. 2011. Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights: The Impact of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Available at <http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdfs/2011-hric-sco-whitepaper-full.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Hyde, Susan D. 2011. The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma: Why Election Monitoring Became an International Norm. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kelley, Judith. 2009. The More the Merrier? The Effects of Having Multiple International Election Monitoring Organizations. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):59–64.Google Scholar
Kelley, Judith Green. 2012. Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works, and Why It Often Fails. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O., and Victor, David G.. 2011. The Regime Complex for Climate Change. Perspectives on Politics 9 (1):7–23.Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan. 2001. The Rational Design of International Institutions. International Organization 55 (4):761–99.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1991. Global Communications and National Power: Life on the Pareto Frontier. World Politics 43 (3):336–66.Google Scholar
Morse, Julia C. 2018. International Institutions and Market Enforcement: Generating Compliance in the Regime to Combat Terrorist Financing. Working Paper. Available at <https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/jcmorse/files/morse_jobmarketpaper.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Morse, Julia C., and Keohane, Robert O.. 2014. Contested Multilateralism. The Review of International Organizations 9 (4):385–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 2003. OSCE Decision: Travel Document Security, 2 December. Available at <http://www.osce.org/mc/18445?download=true>..>Google Scholar
Organization of American States. 2013. OAS Report on Activities of the Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism. Available at <https://www.oas.org/en/sms/cicte/Documents/Sessions/2013/DOC%209%20REPORT%20OF%20THE%20RAPPORTEUR%20CICTE00836E04.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Orsini, Amandine, Morin, Jean-Frédéric, and Young, Oran. 2013. Regime Complexes: A Buzz, a Boom, or a Bust for Global Governance? Global Governance 19 (1):27–39.Google Scholar
Papke, Leslie E., and Wooldridge, Jeffrey M.. 1996. Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401 (K) Plan Participation Rates. Journal of Applied Econometrics 11 (6):619–32.Google Scholar
Pratt, Tyler. 2017. Angling for Inuence: Institutional Proliferation in Development Banking. Working Paper. Available at <https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/tylerpratt/files/influence_aug25.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Raustiala, Kal. 2006. Density and Conflict in International Intellectual Property Law. UC Davis Law Review 40:1021–38.Google Scholar
Raustiala, Kal, and Victor, David G.. 2004. The Regime Complex for Plant Genetic Resources. International Organization 58 (2):277–309.Google Scholar
Riles, Annelise. 2014. Managing Regulatory Arbitrage: A Conflict of Laws Approach. Cornell International Law Journal 47 (1):63–119.Google Scholar
Roberts, Margaret E., Stewart, Brandon M., Tingley, Dustin, Lucas, Christopher, Leder-Luis, Jetson, Kushner Gadarian, Shana, Albertson, Bethany, and Rand, David G.. 2014. Structural Topic Models for OpenEnded Survey Responses. American Journal of Political Science 58 (4):1064–82.Google Scholar
Rosand, Eric. 2006. The UN-Led Multilateral Institutional Response to Jihadist Terrorism: Is a Global Counterterrorism Body Needed? Journal of Conflict and Security Law 11 (3):399–427.Google Scholar
Stone, Randall W. 2011. Controlling Institutions: International Organizations and the Global Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1945. Charter of the United Nations. 1 UNTS XVI. Available at <http://www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations/>..>Google Scholar
United Nations Security Council. 2005. Resolution 1617. <http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1617%20%282005%29>. 5244..+5244.>Google Scholar
Urpelainen, Johannes, and Van de Graaf, Thijs. 2015. Your Place or Mine? Institutional Capture and the Creation of Overlapping International Institutions. British Journal of Political Science 45 (4):799–827.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik, and Merdzanovic, Adis. 2009. United Nations General Assembly Voting Data. <https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/12379>. Washington, DC, United States: Georgetown University..+Washington,+DC,+United+States:+Georgetown+University.>Google Scholar
World Intellectual Property Organization. 2013. WHO, WIPO, WTO Trilateral Cooperation on Public Health, IP and Trade. Available at <http://www.wipo.int/policy/en/global_health/trilateral_cooperation.html>..>Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Pratt supplementary material

Pratt supplementary material 1

Download Pratt supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 167.4 KB
Supplementary material: File

Pratt supplementary material

Pratt supplementary material 2

Download Pratt supplementary material(File)
File 59.4 MB