Rezension: Patz, Ronny and Goetz, Klaus H. (2019): Managing Money and Discord in the UN - Budgeting and Bureaucracy

Abstract

How does budgeting work for international organizations within the United Nations system? What role do states as complex principals and international bureaucracies as complex agents play within budgeting processes? By providing four case studies on the UN, ILO, UNESCO, and WHO, the authors of "Managing Money and Discord in the UN - Budgeting and Bureaucracy" offer valuable insights on budgeting and its procedures in the UN System of organizations. Their findings demonstrate that despite global financial crisis and significant structural changes in global politics, the core budget routines of international organizations have remained relatively stable over the past decades. However, with vested interests of powerful member states, complementary financial arrangements outside the core organizations, diverging intraorganizational priorities, or the rise of philanthropy and voluntary contributions, complexities for both principals and agents have increased, which ultimately put the capacity of international bureaucracies to maintain budgetary routines at risk. By bridging the gap between related, but distinct disciplines within political science, the concept of budgeting put forward in this book is equally important for the study of International Relations, International Public Administrations, Political Economy, and Public Policy.