Procedures of Decision-Making and the Role of Law in International Organizations

Abstract

There is no general body of procedural law for decision-making in international organizations. At the same time, many of the more than 230 existing international organizations (IOs) exercise public power through legislative and regulatory activities involving a myriad of decisions taken within these institutions every day. These decisions shape societal perceptions of a wide range of pressing humanitarian-, ecological, technical- and scientific issues and direct actions taken in these fields. From a rule of law perspective any exercise of public power outside a limiting framework of public law is reason for concern. According to the domestic rule of law traditions, public law is supposed to prescribe the form in which public power is exercised. It regulates the process of decision-making by establishing binding procedures, including procedural rights of participants and affected individuals. In case of unlawful exercise of power by public officials affected persons and entities have legal recourse to an independent court or tribunal. If formalized procedural constraints for the exercise of public authority are important at the national level they are all the more so at the international level since conflicts over substantive legal standards and disagreement over community values are usually more acute.

I thank the participants in the MPI research project on the exercise of public authority by international institutions as well as Eyal Benvenisti, Giacinto della Cananea, Christian Tietje and Christoph Möllers for their insightful comments and critique on earlier drafts. Many thanks also to Eva Richter, Lewis Enim and Eric Pickett for proof-reading and formatting.