OCHA and "Protection of Civilians": Authority and Symbolic Technologies in the Governance of the Humanitarian Field

Authority is a prerequisite for international organizations' (IO) influence over states and other organizations. This article criticizes Barnett and Finnemore's one-dimensional understanding of IO authority, claiming that it is not pre-given or absolute, but must always be analyzed in the relationship between the actors. The author focuses specifically on the use of symbolic technologies that make it possible to formulate and share more or less coherent opinions about a topic. This establishes notions of asymmetry in the relationship between actors and forms the basis for authority claims. Key words, concepts with general acceptance in the field, are an important starting point for the creation of symbolic technologies. This work is a study of the agenda for the Protection of Civilians as a symbolic technology. It shows how the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, by taking ownership of this agenda, has gone from being an organization almost without authority to one that sets the agenda for humanitarian policy in the UN Security Council. Simultaneously, OCHA has weakened its authority vis-a-vis the humanitarian organizations.