EU Actorness in the International Labour Organization: Comparing Declaratory and Voting Cohesion

This article presents data on the voting records of the European Union (EU) Member States and the frequency of EU common statements in both technical (standard-setting) and political (scrutiny) issues in the International Labour Organization (ILO) between 1973 and 2007. By contrasting voting cohesion to declaratory cohesion, it advances the literature by demonstrating that contrary to theoretically informed predictions, political coordination is more successful than technical coordination. It explores the reasons for this through an analysis of different forms of actorness, namely the opportunity to act within the ILO, the presence of the EU through its Member States, and the capability of the policy-making apparatus to produce cohesive outputs. It concludes that the socialisation of Geneva-based diplomats is the most important variable explaining the relative success of political coordination, while the unfamiliarity of seconded national officials to Geneva with EU coordination explains the reduced effectiveness of technical cooperation.