Course syllabus


	IRP 632/PPA 632. International Public and NGO Management	Current as of July 7, 2008
	Syllabus Master Schedule of Sessions and Assignments

Course Approach

The course develops from a general discussion of the differences between management of international public and NGO organizations and similar organizations at the national level or below, through an examination of the management process to a consideration of the application of analysis methods to specific organizations. The goal is to provide students with the tools to be intelligent consumers of international services, effective participants in their governance and, at an introductory level, how to evaluate them.

Requirements

Each student will be expected to participate in either a live session or an on-line discussion, send a number of weekly exercises by e-mail and produce a study of a specific program within a large organization or of a small organization. The topic should be decided early, by September 30, so that the participant can focus on that in the discussions of tools and functions. The studies will be loaded on a web page and be the basis of discussions during the last sessions of the course. The final version of the paper will be due by e-mail by December 14.

Course Organization

The course will largely be based on scheduled on-line or in-person sessions with the professor. Students can choose one of three sessions in which to participate. The course will have two in-person discussion sessions on Thursday from 6:30-9:15 p.m. in Eggers 010 and a second on Friday from 9:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in the Maxwell Auditorium. There will also be one two hour on-line session, primarily for those students not located in Syracuse, on a day and time to be arranged according to the location of the students.] Students are expected to participate in one session each week -- in-person or on-line. A recording of the on-line sessions will be posted the day after the session for those who could not attend. A lecture text and audio presentation will be put up on the site by the Friday prior to the session. .

The first session of the course will be held on August 28 and 29. The August 29 session will be held in the Global Collaboratory (Eggers 060) and will be video-streamed. Details on how to access the video stream will be sent separately.

Readings

Participants are requested to purchase three texts:

John Mathiason, Invisible Governance: International Secretariats in Global Politics, Bloomfield, CT.: Kumarian Press, 2007
Marc Lindenberg and Coralie Bryant, Going Global: Transforming Relief and Development NGO's, Bloomfield, CT.: Kumarian Press, 2001

Participants may also want to purchase:

Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules For The World: International Organizations In Global Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004.

Other required Internet and recommended readings will be referenced.

Simulation

Participants will be part of a simulation for the first half of the course, working in teams. It will emphasize the techniques of strategic planning used in international organizations. The simulation will involve creating a medium-term plan and biennial program budget for a new international organization, the Biological Weapons Verification Organization (BWVO). Participants will be the Program Planning Section attached to the Office of the Director-General of the BWVO. There will be weekly discussions of progress with the Director-General.

Grading

In a graduate level course, the grade should be determined by whether the concepts and techniques being taught have been learned, found useful and used by the student. However, since the University requires grades, the course grade will be based on the following:

Final paper	75%
Participation in the simulation	15%
Participation in the on-line chats or in-person discussion sessions	10%

Forums

In order to permit participants to exchange information on-line, a series of forums to which messages can be posted has been created on the course website. To use the forums you will have to register, creating a user name and password.

Office hours

Professor Mathiason will have office hours on Thursday from 13:00-15:30 on Fridays from 13:00-15:30 and by appointment. His office is Maxwell 404b.

Master Schedule of Sessions and Assignments

Date	Section of course/Content of the session
August 28, 29	1. Opening Session: Management of the International Regime for the Verification of the Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The opening session will be a case study of how issues of international management affect international politics, that will also introduce the concept of a public management approach to examining international organizations. Institutions seeking to verify compliance with international arms control treaties have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism by the United States especially and show both the possibilies and limitations of the international public sector to perform transnational functions effectively.
	The political context for management. This section of the course will discuss the role of international public and NGO management within the wider context of global governance. It will consider the theoretical context for examining international organizations as well as the main present day issues of their management within the international political system.
September 4, 5	2. Managing non-sovereign public institutions and the role of results-based planning and evaluation. This session will discuss international public management in the context of international relations theory. It will examine the consequences of lack of sovereignty to management choices and institutional methods. It will introduce the growing role of strategic planning and results-based management in international public and non-governmental organizations. Problems to be addressed by the Verification Organization and overall objectives due.
September 11, 12	3. The changing role of civil society in international management .This session will examine the increasing role of institutions of civil society in international governance. Specific objectives for the 2008-2011 Medium-Term Plan of the Verification Organization due.
	Analytical Tools: This section of the course will examine the tools that are available to analyze international organizations, in terms of concepts, foci and data sources. It will look first at how to examine the external environment in which management decision-making takes place and then at internal structural factors that condition how the organizations work. It will differentiate the management of international organizations (public and NGO) from management of organizations at the national level.
September 18, 19	4. Tools for analyzing transnational public management - (a) External environment. Factors in determining constituency preferences, programs of work and budget, fund raising, public information and oversight (b) Internal environment. Factors that are within the general control of managers including personnel management, planning and budgeting and implementation. Expected outcomes for the 2008-2011 medium-term plan of the Verification Organization due. Topic of course project paper due.
	Management in specific functional areas: In each subject, we will discuss the relative roles of international public organizations and NGO's. The section is organized around five areas in which functions are performed. For each area, the structure and process of performing the function by delivering services will be examined, including major critical analyses that have been undertaken by the organizations concerned.
September 25, 26	5. Regime creation. This session will examine how international agreements are negotiated and the role of international public and NGO secretariats in the process. It will examine the differences between bilateral and multi-lateral negotiation and the role of NGO's in conditioning outcomes. Output to be produced in the first biennium by the Verification Organization and the activities necessary to produce them. [The on-line session will take place on Saturday, September 29 at 8:45 a.m. instead of Thursday.]
October 2, 3	6. Norm enforcement. This session will look at how international agreements, once made, are enforced through the use of information and monitoring mechanisms and the factors that determine effectiveness in these activities. Discussion with the Director-General on peformance measurements.
October 9, 10	7. Peace, security and humanitarian assistance. This session will look at the management of services to manage conflicts and provide humanitarian assistance. First outline of paper due.
October 16, 17	8. International economic and social management (development, trade, finance and health). This session will look at the role of international organizations in providing international public investment in the context of national development efforts and will introduce methods for appraising management effectiveness in this area.
October 23, 24	9. Internal management. This session will focus on how internal management can be made most effective. It will look at the application of concepts of "re-inventing government" and "results-based programming and budgeting" to the international public sector, including the role of NGOs in this. Presentation of BWVO medium-term plan and program budget to Program and Budget Committee.
	Cases of integrated management: This section will look at how several specific international organizations or programs have dealt with the problem of how to deliver services effectively.
October 30, 31	10. Case: the International Atomic Energy Agency. This session will look at how the IAEA performs its regime creation, norm enforcement and development functions and the lessons it has learned as a result of an internal appraisal. The focus will be on the management of a total agency, including especially its introduction of results-based programming.
November 6, 7	11. Case: Greenpeace. This session will examine Greenpeace as an advocacy organization in the area of environment, including attention to its political constituency and the relationship of this with its effectiveness.
November 13, 14	12. Case: Advancement of Women Programs. This session will examine the role of international public and NGO institutions in implementing the Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women including limits and constraints to international work.
November 20, 20	13. Presentations: A selected number of presentations of analyses.
December 4, 5	14. Principles of International Management: This session will be a wrap up and will discuss the main lessons that can be learned about managing international organizations.
December 12	Final papers due! Please complete the course evaluation form.

John R. Mathiason