Why International Organizations Hate Politics

“We don’t do politics!” Every researcher embarked in the field of international organizations has heard this at least once from international bureaucrats, governmental delegates or civil society representatives engaged in multilateral negotiations. This book takes this apolitical claim seriously and questions the politics of IOs by building on the concept of depoliticization. Delving into the inner dynamics of global governance, it develops an analytical framework on why IOs “hate” politics by bringing together practices and logics of depoliticization in a wide variety of historical, geographic and organizational contexts. With multiple case studies in the fields of labor rights and economic regulation, environmental protection, development and humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, among others this book shows that depoliticization sustains IO everyday activities while allowing them to remain engaged in politics, even when they pretend not to. For IO scholars and students, this book sheds new light on IO politics by clarifying one often taken-for-granted dimension of their everyday activities, precisely that of depoliticization. It will also be of interest to other researchers working in the fields of political science, international relations, international political sociology, international political economy, international public administration, history, law, sociology, anthropology and geography as well as IO practitioners.