International organizations : the anthropological perspective

Initially devoted to studying non-Western social groups, anthropologists turned to the analysis of international organizations during the 1990s. Thirty years later, the anthropology of international organizations is a rich and growing field of study. Moored in the anthropology of humanitarian and development aid organizations, this chapter highlights the specificity of the anthropological perspective and identifies three key contributions made by the anthropological literature on international organizations. These contributions are (1) the study of international organizations as social worlds and political arenas, (2) the grounded analysis of the production and influence of hegemonic frames, and (3) the identification and analysis of key tensions within international governance.

In: Routledge Handbook of International Organization, 2nd Edition, 2024