'Your Own Space and Time': Spatiality and Temporality in the Study of the International Organisations of the Middle East
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Author | James Worrall |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12995 |
’Your Own Space and Time’: Spatiality and
Temporality in the Study of the International
Organisations of the Middle East
James Worrall
University of Leeds
Abstract
The regional international organisations of the Middle East clearly work to different traditions than Western International
Organisations (IOs) and are comprised of states which are known for their secrecy and hostility to critique. This is methodolog-
ical challenge enough without taking into account the influences of temporal and spatial practices upon the functioning of
these organisations. Using anthropological approaches to time and space an argument is advanced that putting temporal and
spatial considerations at the heart of the study of these bodies impacts upon our conceptual, theoretical and methodological
outlooks –generating richer, more nuanced insights. Thus, not only do time and space form an important research agenda in
their own right but they also better inform existing theoretical understandings of IOs, particularly the historical and sociologi-
cal institutionalist traditions. Drawing from direct experience with some of the key difficulties researchers face when engaging
with these organisations, the article demonstrates the need for a reflexive and adaptive methodological engagement which
can engage with the impacts of place and perceptions of time, examining these bodies less in comparison with the expecta-
tions scholars carry for IOs such as the UN and EU and more on their own terms, in their own situational and temporal con-
texts.
Policy Implications
•Scholars and policymakers should judge success and failure differently to better take into account differing cultural con-
ceptions of timescales.
•Understanding how policy is made in the secretariats of the IOs of the Middle East needs to take into account more vari-
ables than simply the directly political. Understanding how ideas of time and the impacts of place shape this, is an impor-
tant new dimension of study.
•For academics, understanding how local dimensions of time and space might reshape existing theoretical approaches
which are so firmly based on the study of Western IOs can draw attention to different understandings of time horizons
and critical junctures.
•That for Western diplomats, NGOs and academics engaging with the IOs of the Middle East understanding how time is
conceived and how spaces can influence processes enables more effective research, engagement and influence –making
for more empathetic and constructive dialogue.
With just a few notable exceptions (Goetz and Meyer-Sahling,
2009; Howlett and Goetz, 2014), the multiple and vital roles
played by time and space in the functioning and evolution of
International Organisations (IOs) have received little system-
atic attention or theorisation. This article contributes, within
the context of this special issue (Maertens et al., 2021),
1
to
the wider discussion of the importance of the roles played by
space, place and time in the study of IOs by advancing some
conceptions to help us refocus our awareness, especially by
drawing in more anthropological thinking, for an excellent
overview, see Eckl (2021), about how time and space might
be considered differently within the IOs of the Middle East. In
doing so it draws on a multidisciplinary set of tools and
understandings of both time and place from area studies,
business, sociology, anthropology and geography, to high-
light obvious and less obvious aspects of time and space
which impact upon the study of the functioning of Middle
East International Organisations (MEIOs).
On Barak (2013, pp. 1–4) notes that ’Egyptian time’only
exists in a colonial comparison to ’European/Western time’
which developed in the 19th century as a result of industri-
alisation, standardisation and globalisation. The creation of
one time sense as being valued, with the other being
undervalued is a colonial imposition. Vanessa Ogle (2015)
suggests that before the 1870s conceptions of time were
inherently plural, with standardisation theoretically sweeping
away older concepts. What we see in MEIOs however is that
plural and standardised times exist simultaneously and
coherently –the organisations themselves are subject to this
contradiction, as are the individuals working within them.
Recognising which time sense an individual or organisation
is using, or equally importantly, how different time senses
Global Policy (2022) 12:Suppl.7 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12995 ©2021 Durham University and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Global Policy Volume 12 . Issue 7 . December 2021 45
Special Issue Article
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