Central and Eastern Europe and the Decline of Russia in the United Nations Administrative Bodies: 1996-2015
- Michal Parízek
, - Ekaterina Ananyeva
Abstract
In international organizations, states seek representation not only in
decision-making and political fora but also in the administrative bodies, or
secretariats. This article maps the representation of Central and Eastern
European (CEE) countries in the secretariats of 36 bodies of the United
Nations (UN) system in the years 1996-2015. The CEE region is interesting
due to the deep political divide between Russia and the Western-oriented
new EU member states. Using new empirical evidence regarding the
participation of CEE countries’ citizens on the professional staff of the UN
bodies, we show that Russia has dramatically lost much of its
representation in the UN administration over the last twenty years. In
contrast, a number of other CEE countries have considerably improved their
position in it. In spite of that, the countries of the entire CEE region belong
to those with an overall weak representation in the administrative bodies of
the UN.
Keywords
staffing, United Nations, international organizations, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia
Author Biography
Michal Parízek
Michal Parízek is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Charles University,
Prague. His research focuses on international institutions and their
performance, including with regard to international administrations.
Empirically, his research deals with the World Trade Organization as well as
the United Nations system. His texts were recently published in, among
others, The Review of International Organizations, New Political Economy,
World Trade Review, Comparative European Politics, and Global Policy.
Ekaterina Ananyeva
Ekaterina Ananyeva is a PhD student at the Institute of Political Studies, Charles University. Her dissertation is devoted to Russia as a rising power in multilateral
institutions. In her work, Ekaterina looks at what constitutes the choice of
behavioral patterns of Russia in multilateral institutions. She is also a junior researcher at the Peace Research Center Prague, where she is a member of
the research group Power Shifts.