The enlargement of international organisations

Abstract

Scholars tend to study international organisations as selective clubs. Theorising organisations as clubs, however, obscures an important aspect of their evolution that is connected to the goods they produce. Some organisations produce goods that are increasingly attractive and accessible to non-members. Those organisations face pressures to enlarge beyond the optimal size suggested by club theory, changing the experience of membership fundamentally. Over time, lower exclusivity, increased rivalry, and tighter governance structures shift the organisation from producing club-goods to managing common resource pools. The case of the European Union illustrates this transformation. By theorising the EU as a collection of common resources pools rather than a club, this study underscores how the EU accompanied the pressure for greater inclusiveness and competition for resources with reforms to strengthen member states’ self-discipline and multilateral surveillance. Such institutional reforms were and remain necessary for any international organisation to avoid the tragedy of the commons.

Keywords:

• International organisations
• enlargement
• tragedy of the commons
• club theory
• European Union

Acknowledgements

West European Politics provided the best reviewers any author needs. This argument benefited hugely from the major revisions they required. We are also grateful for comments received during presentations at the 2023 annual conferences of the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), the Council for European Studies (CES), the American Political Science Association (APSA), and the International Relations Working Group of the European University Institute (IRWG EUI). We have greatly benefited from extensive feedback and support provided by Waltraud Schelkle, Craig Parsons, Orfeo Fioretos, Jonathan Moses, Amy Kreppel, Desmond King, Bent Sofus Tranøy, Ingrid Hjertaker, and Giorgio Giamberini.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Veronica Anghel

Veronica Anghel is a Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. Her research focuses on European integration and democracy building and has been published in Political Communication, the Journal of European Public Policy, and the European Journal of Political Research. [[email protected]]

Erik Jones

Erik Jones is Director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute. He specialises in European integration and international political economy, and his work has appeared in Comparative Political Studies and International Affairs amongst others. [[email protected]]