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Organising Babylon: The Coordination of Intervention and the Denial of Politics

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Abstract

Hensell analyses the coordination problem as a myth in international intervention politics. He starts from the question of why coordination is widely supported but seldom implemented. The chapter maps the various international and local actors and their managerial difficulties in coordination. Hensell specifically draws attention to the political roots of the coordination problem and explores the ways of downplaying political conflicts through the adoption of the coordination principle in official statements and institutions. The chapter includes a case study on Albania, where donor-to-government coordination is widely endorsed in the realm of public-sector reform.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the relevance of sociological institutionalism for IR, see Finnemore (1996) and Buhari-Gulmez (2010). On the development of sociological institutionalism as a research program, see Jepperson (2002).

  2. 2.

    I use the terms ‘institutional rule’ and ‘rationalised myth’ or ‘institutionalised myth’ synonymously. See the following section for a clarification of the meaning of these terms.

  3. 3.

    For other approaches on the role of myths and organisations, see Brown (1994) and Yanow (1992); cf. Bliesemann de Guevara, Chap. 2.

  4. 4.

    However, these organisations are also special cases as they are multifunctional and need to coordinate internally and externally.

  5. 5.

    Accra Agenda, p. 3. Available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ACCRAEXT/Resources/4700790-1217425866038/AAA-4-SEPTEMBER-FINAL-16h00.pdf (accessed May 14, 2013).

  6. 6.

    Available at http://www.oecd.org/dac/effectiveness/busanpartnership.htm (accessed July 14, 2013).

  7. 7.

    Data compiled from the Calendar of Sector Working Group Meetings. Available at http://www.dsdc.gov.al (Accessed May 7, 2013).

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Acknowledgements

This is a shortened and revised version of my article “Coordinating intervention: International actors and local ‘partners’ between ritual and decoupling.” Journal of Intervention and State-building, 2015, 9 (1):89–111.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Science, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany

    Stephan Hensell

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  1. Stephan Hensell
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aberystwyth University , Aberystwyth, United Kingdom

    Berit Bliesemann de Guevara

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Hensell, S. (2016). Organising Babylon: The Coordination of Intervention and the Denial of Politics. In: Bliesemann de Guevara, B. (eds) Myth and Narrative in International Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53752-2_14

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