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Partner Capture In Public International Organizations, Christopher G. Bradley

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

A sharp rise of public-private partnerships is changing the way the United Nations and other public international organizations work. Organizations eagerly embrace wealthy, experienced partners, such as major foundations and corporations, in order to fund ambitious projects. But safeguards against potential problems have not kept pace with partnership activities. Looking to fundamental principles of public choice and political economy well-known in the U.S. administrative law context, this Article develops a multifaceted notion of “partner capture” to describe the dangers of this expansion in partnership activities for the U.N. and similar organizations. The dangers include agenda distortion, intra-organizational rivalries, reputational damage, …