AN INVITATION TO JOIN THE IO BIO PROJECT BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SECRETARIES-GENERAL OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Bob Reinalda, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands and Kent Kille, The College of Wooster, United States March 2011 IO BIO WEBSITE: www.ru.nl/fm/reinalda, then IO BIO E-mail:
[email protected] The IO BIO Project aims at setting up, editing, and publishing a Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries- General of International Organizations (IO BIO). The idea was launched at a roundtable meeting at the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention in New Orleans in February 20101 and will be elaborated upon during a panel at the Annual Convention of the ISA in Montreal in March 2011.2 This brief overview explains the Project’s objectives, tools, and organizational aspects. It encompasses assumptions and decisions to be made, and serves as an invitation to join or support the Project in one way or another. If interested in working on the IO BIO project, please contact us at
[email protected]. A. OBJECTIVES 1. A Biographical Dictionary Secretaries-General (SGs) – or other executive heads with different titles – of International Organizations (IOs) are the chief executives and representatives of international bureaucracies that vary in size and shape. This position has standing within International Relations Theory and many IO personalities are known to a wider public for their roles in international politics. However, there is still a gap in our understanding of the people in these posts, both individually and collectively, in terms of who they are and how they affect the performance of IOs, as organizations and in international relations.