'Walking the extra mile'

It is August 26, 2015. A crucial day during the Conference of State Parties in Cancún, Mexico. 67 of the 69 member states of the Arms Trade Treaty vote for a location of the new Secretariat. Three candidate host states and their cities are bidding: Austria (Vienna), Switzerland (Geneva), and Trinidad and Tobago (Port of Spain). In the first round, Port of Spain wins with 32 votes, Geneva gets 21, and Vienna drops out with 14 votes. The second round, Geneva gets 35, scooping up all of Vienna’s votes, and wins. What did Switzerland and Geneva do right? What did the others do wrong – if anything?

This book is about how governance networks in host cities attract International Organizations (IOs), and about how and why they fail or succeed. Scholars in the field of governance and public policy often agree that better policy alignment and cooperation in networks increase the chances of success. Yet, the findings of this study contradict this. Considering the interests of IOs proves to be more important than having matters ‘in order’ internally.

Rosa Groen is a lecturer at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Her specialties are competitive cities, policy network governance, international organizations and how cities and nations attract these.