Description
The current polycentric world, consisting of diverse actors with authorities, necessitates reforms of existing governance architectures, which cannot solve or alleviate complex global issues. This study thus addresses a question: who initiates the transformation of global governance architectures and how? Here the author shows that a "boundary unit" within an international organization (IO), which bridges between the IO and outside actors, builds a "transorganizational partnership" to improve the effectiveness of governance architectures. While existing literature tends to assume IOs as "unitary" actors, this study argues that IOs are "collective" actors and that a boundary unit within the IOs can independently cooperate with other actors through incorporating their opinions and getting feedback to the IO, though its Headquarters does not care about or is opposed to it. To illustrate this mechanism, I address the role of regional bureaus or offices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as boundary units, which cause changes of refugee governance by inputting and feedbacking local voices to the Office. These boundary units have promoted the change in the UNHCR’s mandate into a humanitarian agency, through taking local needs via local/grassroots NGOs as organizational agendas.
