Course Title：International Organisations: How they work and what they achieve

The course will explore how international organisations (IOs) work. They are an important feature of the international regime; membership is extensive; the expectations are high; new IOs are often created. Yet too often they seem to be gridlocked, unable to decide what to do. Why are they both welcomed and frustrated? This course will explore the world of IOs. It will ask why they were created, what structures were agreed, how they work, what their problems are, how they are perceived and used by different members and what they are able to achieve. The course will concentrate on those IOs that have an economic logic, that try to deliver programs and projects: The World Bank, the IMF, the World Trade Organisation, and the UN agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It will also ask if new agencies, particularly the regional development banks and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, will be better able to assist their member states.