International organizations beyond depoliticized governance

This article aims at questioning the idea that international organizations (IOs) are ‘depoliticized’ by nature. Based on a review of the literature in sociology, political science, and anthropology about IOs, the purpose is to provide an analysis of the dialectic about politicization and depoliticization in IOs. We identify the main processes through which depoliticization is operated by IOs: the use of ethics and norms, the political neutralization of their official rhetoric, and the resorting to multiform expertise as a means of apolitical self-legitimization. We also explore the factors that may explain this tendency to depoliticize: their problematic status in regard to democratic theory, the diplomatic constraints attached to the intergovernmental structure of their managing bodies, and the administrative and cultural constraints that befall IOs’ bureaucracies. Finally, we try to go beyond the concept of depoliticization by stressing the consequences of politicization that stem from IOs’ resilient political rhetoric and from the ethical norms and expertise produced by IOs. Because IOs cannot totally eliminate political controversy and debates, the idea of ‘international depoliticized governance’ as a result of IOs activity should be put into perspective.