Global Survey on Staff Diversity in International Public Administration (SDIPA)

Project team:

Dr. Michal Parízek, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Steffen Eckhard, University of Konstanz, Germany

Objectives and outputs:

The SDIPA is an international research collaboration project administered by Universität Konstanz and Charles University, that studies the administrations of international organizations.

The aim of the SDIPA project is to understand the challenges and opportunities linked to the geographical diversity in international organizations with a focus on the interaction between international and national staff in country offices. The project seeks to understand how each staff group contributes to the success of country operations, how teams in international organizations should ideally be composed, and how country offices can manage and leverage diversity.

In the summer of 2019, the SDIPA survey was implemented (306 replies). The survey included a participant lottery for 5 Amazon vouchers which was conducted in December 2020. Remaining participants received a copy of the results. The data analysis was conducted in autumn 2019, manuscript submission and revision took place between spring 2020 and summer 2020, the project findings are now published in the Journal of Comparative Public Policy.

  • Eckhard, S., & Parizek, M. (2020). Policy implementation by international organizations: A comparative analysis of strengths and weaknesses of national and international staff. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. doi:10.1080/13876988.2020.1813032

Related publications:

Eckhard, S. (2018). Comparing how peace operations enable or restrict the influence of national staff: Contestation from within? Cooperation and Conflict, doi:10.1177/0010836718815528

Parízek, M. (2017). Control, soft information, and the politics of international organizations staffing. The Review of International Organizations, 12(4), 559-583.

Bauer, M. W., Knill, C., & Eckhard, S. (2017). International Bureaucracy: Challenges and Lessons for Public Administration Research. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.