How do bureaucrats in Regional Organisations (ROs) shape regional agenda-setting on children’s rights? To answer this question, this thesis draws on a most-different case design with the African Union, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. Although ROs in both regions differ in contextual factors (e.g., historical backgrounds and staff size), they exhibit surprisingly similar levels of formal children’s rights institutionalisation in 2022, including mainstreaming attempts. In this thesis, the author demonstrates that in both cases, regional bureaucrats employed rhetorical strategies based on the level of voice RO member states had during relevant UN treaty negotiations. Bureaucrats relied on either norm subsidiarity (based on a low level of voice of RO member states) or the logic of consistency (based on a high level of voice of RO member states) to place children’s rights on the regional agenda. In both cases, bureaucrats also employed orchestration techniques, engaging intermediaries, including NGOs, UN entities, and bureaucrats in other ROs. Lastly, bureaucrats in the African Union (de-)linked norm components within the broader norm cluster surrounding children’s rights to raise awareness among member state representatives or in reaction to member state contestation. The level of voice of RO member states during UN treaty-making also coincided with the timing of initial agenda-setting. African states did not include their views at the UN level and agreed on regional agenda-setting early (in 1990). European ROs, whose member states had dominated UN treaty negotiations, set the agenda later (in 2005/6). Empirically, this thesis draws on 60 interviews, archival, and other policy documents. Theoretically, it contributes to orchestration and norm contestation literature by highlighting the relevance of the level of voice of RO member states in multilateral forums for explaining how regional bureaucrats set the agenda, institutionalise issues, and react to member state contestation.
Selma Kropp (she/ her) is a researcher at the SPS Department of the European University Institute and Claus Wisser Fellow at Normative Orders at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research focuses on bureaucratic agency in (regional) International Organisations and children’s rights. For her doctoral thesis, she conducted fieldwork in Addis Ababa, Brussels, and Strasburg, interviewing regional bureaucrats and their international counterparts. Building on this work, her post-doc project explores contestation dynamics between regional bureaucrats and member state representatives regarding children in migration situations in Europe.