“What the Secretariat Makes It”: United Nations Civil Servants between Administrative Function and Contemporary International Lawmaking
In: International Organizations Law ReviewSearch for other papers by Hannah Birkenkötter in
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Abstract
As the only international organization that aspires to be unviersal both in terms of its membership as well as in terms of the policy fields in which it intervenes, the United Nations (UN) occupies a unique position in international lawmaking. Focusing on the UN’s political and judicial or quasi-judicial organs does not, however, fully capture the organization’s lawmaking activities. Instead, much of the UN’s impact on international law today can be traced back to its civil servants. In this paper, I argue that international lawmaking today is best understood as processual and fluid, and that in contemporary lawmaking thus understood, the UN Secretariat plays an important role. I then propose two ways in which international civil servants add to international lawmaking: they engage in executive interpretation of broad and elusive norms, and they act as an interface between various actors on different governance levels. This raises novel legitimacy challenges for the international legal order.
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| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 177 | 177 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 30 | 3 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 112 | 112 | 8 |
“What the Secretariat Makes It”: United Nations Civil Servants between Administrative Function and Contemporary International Lawmaking
In: International Organizations Law ReviewSearch for other papers by Hannah Birkenkötter in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
As the only international organization that aspires to be unviersal both in terms of its membership as well as in terms of the policy fields in which it intervenes, the United Nations (UN) occupies a unique position in international lawmaking. Focusing on the UN’s political and judicial or quasi-judicial organs does not, however, fully capture the organization’s lawmaking activities. Instead, much of the UN’s impact on international law today can be traced back to its civil servants. In this paper, I argue that international lawmaking today is best understood as processual and fluid, and that in contemporary lawmaking thus understood, the UN Secretariat plays an important role. I then propose two ways in which international civil servants add to international lawmaking: they engage in executive interpretation of broad and elusive norms, and they act as an interface between various actors on different governance levels. This raises novel legitimacy challenges for the international legal order.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 177 | 177 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 30 | 30 | 3 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 112 | 112 | 8 |