The Politicization of International Organizations: A Theoretical Reconceptualization, Applied to the United Nations and the Responsibility to Protect

Just like national administration, international organizations are subject to politicization and its ambivalent effects. The present article makes use of relevant contributions to the theory of formal organizations and bureaucracy in an attempt to conceptualize the politicization phenomenon. A case of norm emergence and norm implementation within the system of the United Nations is analyzed, the principle of a Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the phases of its constructive and obstructive politicization. The argument is that the impact of politicization increases when internal and external politicization impulses coincide and that strategic communication of policy entrepreneurs may decisively influence the constructive or obstructive character of politicization.