- Choose one intergovernmental organization from the following list (you may also choose an IGO that is not on this list if you obtain prior approval from me). This list excludes the six IGOs that we cover in detail in the class (UN, NATO, EU, IMF, WTO, and WHO) and includes IGOs that presently exist and for which there is sufficient information available to write your papers well. If you want to write about one the five excluded IGOs, you must get approval from me.
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- Council of Europe (CoE)
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development aka World Bank (IBRD)
- International Labor Organization (ILO)
- International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
- League of Arab States (LAS)
- Common Market of the Southern Cone States (Mercosur)
- North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA)
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- African Union (AU)
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
- Begin with a brief history and description of the organization. Write in paragraph form, but try to include answers to this questions in the background, history, and description section of your paper. You do not have to address the questions in this order – just try to make sure you address them when the information is available:
- Which states were founding members?
- What caused the states to create the IGO?
- Was it created within another IGO or was a previous IGO reconstituted as this one?
- What is the purpose of the IGO? Which issue area(s) does it cover?
- Who are the current member states? Are they mostly powerful states, mostly less powerful states, or a mix of states with varying degrees of power? Are they mostly democracies, mostly not democracies, or a mixture of democracies and autocracies?
- Do any non-state actors participate in the decision-making fora of the IGO? (e.g. the EU Commission represents the EU member states within the WTO; interest groups meet with EU Commissioners to discuss EU policies)
- What is the budget of the IGO and how is it financed (i.e. do states contribute equal amounts, is it dependent on their GDPs, etc.)
- What are the bodies of the IGO and what is/are the decision-making process(es) within the IGO?
