Organization Terminology and Organization Types

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Published in Transnational Associations 29, 1977, 6, pp. 260-283. [PDF version]
Extract from: International Organizations: diversity, borderline cases, functional substitutes and possible alternatives.

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Introduction

Many attempts have been made to group and categorize international organizations. Few of them reflect the rich variety of organizations and fewer still are of any immediate, practical use. This article explores the significance of the descriptor in the title of an organization as an aid to categorizing organizations. It is extracted from International organisations; diversity, borderline cases, functional substitutes and possible alternatives, which will be published as chapter 2 of International organisations : a conceptual approachedited by Paul Taylor and A.J.R. Groom, (inpress).

International organizations, whether governmental or nongovernmental, use any of an extensive range of terms in their official titles: union, association, office, alliance, centre, etc. There is a great deaf of confusion in the meanings attached to these terms in practice so that it is not usual to attempt to order them in any way (A " centre "can resemble most " associations "and an " association "can be more like a " centre "). The following breakdown of the terms used does however help to clarify the current situation. This is achieved by relating the organizations to meetings by which they were established or through which they work. The numbering system in parenthesis following the term links it, where appropriate, to Diagram. The numbers in parenthesis following each named organization in the text refer to the reference number of that organization as described in Section A or Section B of the 16th edition of the Yearbook of International Organizations 1977.

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