International organizations, their employees and interns and their values1

Ursula Häfliger2 and Simon Hug3
CIS and IPZ, Universität Zürich
Département de science politique et relations internationales,
Université de Genève
 
Paper prepared for presentation at the
2012 International BISA-ISA conference (Edinburgh June 20-22, 2012)

First preliminary draft: Dec 9, 2011

Abstract

In the current era, the world faces global challenges for which increasingly international organizations (IOs) are called upon to help addressing them. While many of these organizations operate under mandates that limit their scope of action, in many areas employees of IOs nevertheless have some leeway. So far, however, the issue of who selects him- or herself into an IO as a workplace has not been studied systematically. Drawing on surveys carried out among employees and interns of several IOs, we assess this self-selection process by comparing the values of employees and interns in IOs with those of the citizens of their country of origin. We find that seeking employment in an IO is linked to particular values, but that cultural differences persist depending on the background of the employees. This suggests that for a fuller understanding of an IOs action in a global governance context, the literature should also take into account the characteristics of the IOs employees and interns.

Footnotes:

1The financial support of the Swiss Network for International Studies is gratefully acknowledged.

2  Center for Comparative and International Studies; Institut für Politikwissenschaft; Universität Zürich; Affolternstrasse 56; 8050 Zürich-Oerlikon; Switzerland; email: haefliger@ipz.uzh.ch

3  Département de science politique et relations internationales, Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; phone ++41 22 379 83 78; email: simon.hug@unige.ch

File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.12.
On 9 Dec 2011, 21:20.