International Organisation as Government: Rereading Georges Scelle’s Theory of International Government

Abstract

Abstract: International organisations have, in different aspects, become important entities in securing some degree of stability of the international social order. Institutions have the function to sort out and execute their constitutional functions and exert a broader influence on the social order, one that guarantees that different social agents’ legal positions and competence are appropriately secured in the society in which they operate. Georges Scelle saw this function as a function of government, and he associated it with the activities of an executive. Together with judicial institutions, which guarantee the proper functioning of the legal order, international organisations maintain the material security of the social agents, the States, so they can fully achieve their social objectives. This article aims at revisiting Scelle’s argument about the theory of international government and, in light of his broader international legal sociology, to evaluate and examine the role international organisations play nowadays in respect of States and local populations more broadly. For Scelle, the relation between social functions and the legal organisation of competences is integral to forming a proper legal order. This article hopes to contribute to the debate on how international organisations simulate government action by taking inspiration from Georges Scelle’s theory of international government, espoused in his report to Institut de Droit International in 1934: Théorie du Gouvernement International. In doing so, the article will provide an intellectual history of Scelle’s contribution to the development of international organisations’ position within international law. It also hopes to answer the question of how international organisations differentiate their actions from domestic public administrations and contribute to the debate about functionalism and autonomy of international organisations.