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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2010.01801.x Byline: PATRICK WELLER (1), XU YI-CHONG (1) Abstract: This article seeks to understand the operations of the World Bank by examining one particular group of players-the country directors (CDs). It argues that the analysis of international organizations (IOs), by focusing on the behaviour of their principals (states), as principal-agent analysts do, or on organizational cultures, as the constructivist approach does, is inadequate in explaining the operation and behaviour of IOs, which are themselves complex organizations with chains of cascading relationships. Country directors at the World Bank occupy a pivotal position in this chain: with executive directors and the president as their nominal and ultimate principals, vice presidents as their direct principals and client countries as informal principals. They are themselves principals to their country team and to some sector people. For both conceptual and empirical reasons, therefore, CDs deserve separate analysis. To explain the way these relationships shape the work CDs do and how they do it, this article examines three basic functions of country directors at the Bank: (1) representing the Bank to the client countries; (2) representing the country to the Bank; and (3) managing the country offices and country programmes. The empirical section of this article is based on interviews with over 80 officials in both Washington and field offices. We show that an understanding of the Bank and its operations requires an examination of its internal processes and its staff. Author Affiliation: (1)Patrick Weller is the Premier of Queensland Chair and Xu Yi-chong is a Research Professor in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland. Article History: Date received 14 December 2008. Date accepted 1 February 2009.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2007.00706.x Byline: XU YI-CHONG (1), PATRICK WELLER (1) Abstract: International civil servants (ICS) are largely excluded from the analysis of International Organizations (IOs) because states are assumed to be the determining force in shaping their behaviour. Even principal-agent and constructivist analyses often treat an IO's staff as a unit and are concerned primarily with states' capacities to control IOs. Examining the opportunities of ICS, rather than the choices of states, provides a better means of understanding the capacities of ICS to contribute to the operation of IOs, and especially when they participate in multilateral negotiations. We suggest that structure, competence, legitimacy and culture provide a framework for analysing ICS variable capacity. We use the Secretariat of the WTO, known as a 'member-driven organization', to illustrate how ICS can play a critical role in achieving the IO's objectives. A word on our title. It comes from Esse, non videri in the original, as quoted by a director at the WTO in an interview in April 2003. Author Affiliation: (1)Xu Yi-chong and Patrick Weller are Professors of Politics and Public Policy in the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University, Brisbane. Article History: Date received 11 December 2006. Date accepted 21 February 2007.