The analysis of the formation processes and manifestations of political culture in the domain of international relations and organization lacks a concrete theoretical and methodological framework. However, the main theoretical and methodological deficits seem to be related to the need for a clear-cut definition of the concept itself as well as to the integration of political science methodological tools into the international institutional law debate. This book considers the basic theoretical and methodological requirements for the use of political culture as a conceptual tool in the field of international organization research. Moreover, it applies the core theoretical and methodological assumptions to three case-studies, namely, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union, which are perceived as agents of distinct political cultures in the international system.

Despite the sustained scholarly attention that the United Nations and international NGOs have received in the twenty-first century, they still remain under-researched from a management studies perspective. This volume brings together rich analyses of these organizations’ functioning, arguing that they are best understood as intermediaries between international decision-making and funding bodies in the developed world and initiatives that take place on the ground, primarily in the Global South. Based on current management research, this follow-up to Rethinking International Organizations (Berghahn, 2002) provides a wealth of both empirical and theoretical insights, along with practical recommendations how these organizations can function more effectively.

This book provides insights into the viability of the idea of global constitution. Global constitutionalism has emerged as an alternative paradigm for international law. However, in view of the complex and varied structure of contemporary constitutionalism, in reality it is extremely difficult to use constitutional law to provide a new paradigm for international law. The book argues that the cultural paradigm can offer functional tools for the global constitutionalism discourse. In other words, global constitutionalism could be handled in the context of a global “constitutional culture” instead of a global constitution. This would provide a more realistic basis for discussing global constitutionalization of a society as diverse as the international community, where a globalized polity and a globalized legal system have not yet been achieved.