Lecture 04: Change in International Organizations - The ILO and the Global Political Economy

In “Change in International Organizations: The ILO in the Global Political Economy”, Professor Klabbers aims reflexively to connect change in the structures and policies of international organizations to changes in the political-economic environment. To this end, he identifies four different phases: the period 1850-1914 (creating infrastructures); 1919-1940 (securing the global economy); 1945-late 1970s (Keynesianism); and late-1970s-today (the continuing era of neo-liberalism). The contention is that these ideational changes help explain change in international organizations, and will be illustrated by briefly zooming in on the ILO’s experiences. About Jan Klabbers Jan Klabbers is professor of international law at the University of Helsinki, and Whewell Chair-elect at Cambridge University. He obtained his doctorate in 1996 from the University of Amsterdam for The Concept of Treaty in International Law (with distinction) and is probably best-known for his work on the law of international organizations and the law of treaties. He has authored some 250 journal and book chapters and several monographs, including An Introduction to International Organizations Law (CUP, 4th edn 2023), Treaty Conflict and the European Union (CUP 2008) and Virtue in Global Governance: Judgment and Discretion (CUP 2022). He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to International Organizations Law (CUP 2022) and International Organizations Engaging the World (CUP 2025, in press), and co-editor of The Challenge of Inter-legality (CUP 2019, with Gianluigi Palombella). He has held invited visiting positions at Sorbonne, LUISS, the Graduate Institute and New York University, among others, and in 2024 taught at the Hague Academy of International Law. About the Wilfred Jenks Lecture Series The Wilfred Jenks Lecture Series is an initiative of the Office of the Legal Adviser of the International Labour Organization (ILO) aimed at sparking academic reflection, disseminating knowledge and raising awareness about the ILO’s mandate and its legal and normative work. It also seeks to strengthen the ILO’s long-standing ties with legal scholars and practitioners. This initiative has its origins in the ILO100 Law for Social Justice academic conference, which took place in 2019 during the celebrations of the ILO’s centenary and which resulted in the ILO100 Law for Social Justice publication. The story of CW Jenks’ over 40 years of service exemplifies the foresight and leadership needed.