This project aims to examine the legal characteristics of international organizations (IOs), which are organizations composed of multiple states formed under international law and are major actors on the international stage. The project will produce the first publicly available database of IO legal characteristics, including IO powers, voting rules, budget processes, immunities, secretariat, systems of dispute resolution, and more.
This database will for the first time elucidate the most common legal features, in terms of powers, immunities and decision-making structures, that are characteristic of IOs. This in turn could help to consolidate the sometimes-fuzzy definition of IOs that is standard in academic accounts, informing legal decision-makers and improving our understanding of the relationship between democracy and international law.
