12/06/2026
🧩 We often hear warnings about the "excessive power" of international organisations like the EU, WHO, or the African Union. But are we looking at an accurate map of how these institutions function?
In a thought-provoking new piece for The Loop (ECPR), our Professorial Fellow Samuel Standaert, alongside Anja Jetschke, challenges the common narrative that international organisations become more centralised as they grow.
Key insights from the commentary:
• Contrary to expectations, as regional organisations gain more authority and cover broader policy areas, power does not pool at the centre—it disperses.
•Why does this happen? The researchers suggest that as organisations take on complex responsibilities—from trade to climate policy—they naturally differentiate into specialised bodies. Managing this complexity demands a distributed, interdependent network rather than a single, powerful organ.
• This dispersal creates an intricate web of institutions. The EU, often cited as a paradigm of "centralised authority," is actually a vivid example of power spread across the Commission, Council, Parliament, and Court of Justice.
The takeaway? When we debate the "power" of international organisations, we must ask: which organ, exactly? The reality is far more complex—and more fragmented—than the warning suggests.
📖 Read the full analysis here: https://theloop.ecpr.eu/when-international-organisations-grow-power-spreads/
