Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:21:23.212Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

People who run African affairs: staffing and recruitment in the African Union Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2020

Thomas Kwasi Tieku ,
Stefan Gänzle  and
Jarle Trondal
Thomas Kwasi Tieku*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, King's University College at The University of Western Ontario, 266 Epworth Avenue, London, Ontario, CanadaN6A 2M3
Stefan Gänzle*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Universitetsveien 25, 4604Kristiansand, Norway
Jarle Trondal*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Universitetsveien 25, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway and ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Gaustadalèen 30, 0373 Oslo, Norway
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study contributes to the field of International Public Administration (IPA) and the emerging area of Informal International Relations (IIR) by examining the politics of staffing and recruitment of the African Union Commission (AUC). Although the AUC has become a major political player in international affairs, there is a dearth of knowledge about the civil servants who work for the AUC and who run this paramount pan-African executive body. To address the void, this paper draws on a survey of 137 AUC staff, archival studies and interviews to explore recruitment of AUC staff. Combining organisational theory and informality as analytical lenses, the study demonstrates that, first, many informal international practices (IIPs) are embedded in AUC recruitment processes. Second, the AUC is composed largely of short-term, contracted staff. Finally, it shows that the AUC is dependent on lower-ranked personnel or that it is bottom-heavy. Many of these lower-ranked officials are intimately involved in the making of AUC policies and decisions, putting into question the assumption in existing scholarship that decision-makers of IOs are primarily reliant on top-ranked A-level officials (senior management).

Keywords

Informal international practices (IIPs)African Union (AU)international public administration (APA)international civil servantsinternational bureaucratsregional organisations (ROs) and international public service
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 461 - 481
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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.)

Footnotes

We thank Nadja Sophia Bekkelund Kühn and the staff of the African Union Leadership Academy (AULA) for helping us with data collection, the anonymous reviewers and JMAS team for their outstanding work, Professors Daniel Bach, Kevin Parthenay as well as participants of the International Workshop on Staffing Regional Organisations in the Global South held on 17 October 2019 at SciencesPo for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article. Also, we are grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding the Informal IR Lab at King's University College where a significant portion of this manuscript was produced and the 2020 Lab members, namely Jessica Afara, David Carson, Victoria Hinkson, Eugenia Kontor-Kwateng, Elizabeth Kozak, Nordiah Newell, Megan Payler and Renae Pennington, for research assistance. The views expressed here and any error in the article are solely ours.

References

REFERENCES

Abdulqawi, Y. & Ouguergouz, F.. 2012. The African Union: legal and institutional framework. Leiden: Martin Nijhoff Publishers.Google Scholar
African Union. 2001. The Constitutive Act of the African Union. Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
African Union. 2002. Statutes of the Commission of the African Union.Google Scholar
African Union. 2014. African Union Handbook 2014. Addis Ababa and Wellington: African Union Commission & New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Google Scholar
African Union. 2015 a. ‘African Union launches a revolutionised E-Recruitment website’, <https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20151222>..>Google Scholar
African Union. 2015 b. ‘Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union.’ Johannesburg. <https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/9664-assembly_au_dec_569_-_587_xxiv_e.pdf>..>Google Scholar
African Union. 2010. African Union Staff Regulations and Rules.Google Scholar
African Union. 2014–2020. ‘Current vacancies at African Union Commission’, <http://aucareers.org/>..>Google Scholar
African Union. 2019. Restructuring the African Union Commission: report of the chairperson of the African Union to the permanent representative committee sub-committee on structural reforms.Google Scholar
African Union. 2020. The African Union Handbook. Addis Ababa and Wellington: African Union Commission and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Manatū Aorere.Google Scholar
AU Assembly. 2002. Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the African Union.Google Scholar
Ayebare, A. 2018. ‘The Africa group at the United Nations: Pan-Africanism on the retreat’, in Karbo, T. & Murithi, T., ed. The African Union: autocracy, diplomacy and peace building in Africa. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Bauer, M.W., Ege, J. & Schomaker, R.. 2018. ‘The challenge of administrative internationalization: taking stock and looking ahead’, International Journal of Public Administration 42, 11: 904–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, M.W., Bayerlein, L., Ege, J., Knill, K. & Trondal, J.. 2019. ‘Perspective on international public administration research.’ ARENA Working Paper, No. 1.Google Scholar
Braveboy-Wagner, J. 2009. Institutions of the Global South. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Checkel, J.T. 2001. ‘Why comply? Social learning and European identity change’, International Organization 55, 3: 553–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, J. 2020. ‘Representative bureaucracy, international organizations and public service bargains’, Public Administration 98, 2: 408–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, N.B. 2019. Sovereignty in the South: intrusive regionalism in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108654821CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahlström, C., Lapuente, V. & Teorell, J.. 2012. ‘The merit of meritocratization: politics, bureaucracy, and the institutional deterrence of corruption’, Political Research Quarterly 65, 3: 656–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dersso, S. 2019. ‘The status and legitimacy of popular uprisings in the AU norms on democracy and constitutional governance’, Journal of African Law 63, 1: 107–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duchêne, F. 1994. Jean Monnet: the first statesman of interdependence. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Ege, J. & Bauer, M.W.. 2013. ‘International bureaucracies from a public administration and international relations perspective’, in Reinalda, B., ed. Routledge Handbook of International Organization. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Egeberg, M. & Trondal, J.. 2018. An Organizational Approach to Public Governance: understanding and design. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Egeberg, M., Schäfer, G. & Trondal, J.. 2003.‘The many faces of EU committee governance’, West European Politics 26, 3: 19–40.Google Scholar
Engel, U. 2019. ‘The finances of the African Union (AU),’ in Engel, U. & Mattheis, F., eds. The Finances of Regional Organisations in the Global South: follow the money. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, U. & Porto, J.G.. (2010). Africa's New Peace and Security Architecture: promoting norms, institutionalizing solutions. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fagbayibo, B. 2012. ‘The (ir)relevance of the office of the chair of the African Union commission: analysing the prospects for change’, Journal of African Law 56, 1: 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finnemore, M. 1993. ‘International organizations as teachers of norms: the United Nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization and science policy’, International Organization 47, 4: 565–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gänzle, S., Trondal, J. & Kühn, N.. 2018. ‘Not so different after all”: behavioural patterns and governance dynamics in the commission of the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS)’, Journal of International Organisation Studies 9, 1: 79–96.Google Scholar
Glenn, J. 2009. ‘Global governance and the democratic deficit: stifling the voice of the south’, Third World Quarterly 29, 2: 217–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gravier, M. & Roth, C.. 2019. ‘Bureaucratic representation and the rejection hypothesis: a longitudinal study of the European Commission's staff composition (1980–2013)’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 10, 10: 1–17.Google Scholar
Haastrup, T. 2019. ‘WPS and the African Union’, in True, J. & Davies, S., ed. The Oxford Handbook on Women Peace and Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 375–87.Google Scholar
Hall, D.T. 2002. Careers In and Out of Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hardt, H. 2014. Time to React: the efficiency of international organizations in crisis response. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardt, H. 2016. ‘From states to secretariats: delegation in the African Union Peace and Security Council, African Security, 9, 3: 161–187.Google Scholar
Hurd, I. 2017. International Organizations: politics, law, practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karbo, T. & Murithi, T.. 2018. The African Union: autocracy, diplomacy and peace building in Africa. London: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Kassim, H., Peterson, J., Bauer, M.W., Connolly, S., Dehousse, R., Hooghe, L. & Thompson, A.. 2013. The European Commission of the Twenty-first Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kioko, B. 2019. ‘The African charter on democracy, elections and governance as a justiciable instrument’, Journal of African Law 63, 1: 39–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lægreid, P. & Wise, L.R.. 2007. ‘Reforming human resource management in civil service systems: recruitment, mobility, and representativeness’, in Raadschelders, J., Toonen, T. & van der Meer, F.M., eds. The Civil Service in the 21st Century. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
March, J.G. & Olsen, J.P.. 1989. Rediscovering Institutions. New York, NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Murdoch, Z. & Trondal, J.. 2013. ‘Contracted government. unveiling the European commission's contracted staff’, West European Politics 36, 1: 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, E. & Ravndal, E.J.. 2019. ‘The international civil service’, in Stone, D. & Moloney, K., eds. The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 165–181.Google Scholar
Olsen, J.P. 2007. Europe in Search of Political Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Olsen, J.P. 2010. Governing through Institutional Building. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouartey, K. 2018. Letter of appreciation to H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana on 6th. Addis Ababa. <https://mg.co.za/article/2019-02-07-exclusive-african-union-boss-accused-of-hiring-old-crony-by-his-deputy/>, accessed 27 September 2020.Google Scholar
Park, S. 2018. International Organisations and Global Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parthenay, K. 2019. A Political Sociology of Regionalisms: perspectives for a comparison. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, K.H. & Johannsen, L.. 2015: ‘European values and practices in post-communist public administration: The Baltic states’, in Sager, F. & Overeem, P., eds. The European Public Servant: a shared administrative identity? Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J. 1982. Organizations and Organization Theory. Boston: Pitman.Google Scholar
Rothstein, B. 2012. ‘Political legitimacy for public administration’, in Peters, B.G. & Pierre, J., eds. The Sage Handbook of Public Administration. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Scott, R.W. & Davis, G.F.. 2016. Organizations and organizing. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Souaré, I.K. 2014. ‘The African Union as a norm entrepreneur on military coups d’état in Africa (1952–2012): an empirical assessment’, Journal of Modern African Studies 52, 1: 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Souaré, I.K. 2018. ‘The anti-coup norm’, in Coleman, K. & Tieku, T., ed. African Actors in International Security: shaping contemporary norm. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2011. ‘The evolution of the African Union Commission and Africrats: drivers of African regionalism’, in Shaw, T.M., Grant, J.A. & Cornelissen, S., eds. The Ashgate Research Companion to Regionalism. London: Ashgate, 193–213.Google Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2012. ‘A pan-African view of a new agenda for peace’, International Journal 67, 2: 373–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2018 a. Governing Africa: 3D analysis of the African Union's performance. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2018 b. ‘Formal and informal rules’, Sapphire Series Roundtable.Google Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2019 a. ‘Informality and global IR: a research agenda’, Millennium Conference.Google Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2019 b. ‘Ruling from the shadows: the nature and functions of informal international rules in world politics’, International Studies Review 21, 2: 225–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tieku, T.K. 2019 c. ‘Stirring the pot: the African Union and the international order’, in Coleman, K.P., Kornprobst, M. & Seegers, A., eds. Diplomacy and Borderlands: African agency at the intersections of orders. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Trondal, J. 2016. ‘Advances to the study of international public administration’, Journal of European Public Policy 23, 7: 1097–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trondal, J. & Peters, G.. 2013. ‘The rise of European administrative space: lessons learned’, Journal of European Public Policy 20, 2: 295–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trondal, J., Suvarierol, S. & van den Berg, C.. 2008. ‘The compound machinery of government. the case of seconded officials in the European Commission’, Governance 21, 2: 253–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trondal, J., Larsson, T., Martinssen, M. & Veggeland, F.. 2010. Unpacking International Organisations. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Williams, P. 2009. ‘The peace and security council of the African Union: evaluating an embryonic international institution’, Journal of Modern African Studies 47, 4: 603–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witt, A. 2019. ‘Where regional norms matter. contestation and the domestic impact of the African charter on democracy, elections and governance’, Africa Spectrum 11, 7: 1–21.Google Scholar