Focal organizations under global governance complexity: introducing and applying a new conceptual framework

The article introduces and applies a novel conceptual framework for understanding focal organizations and focality within the context of global governance complexity. Existing literature typically portrays focal organizations as the primary and exclusive venues for addressing cooperation challenges, treating focality as a static and uncontested attribute. However, the increasing contestation of focal organizations challenges these assumptions, necessitating a reassessment of their true nature and potential evolution. To this end, the article develops and applies a new conceptual framework that makes three distinct contributions. First, it offers an innovative interpretation of focality, emphasizing its contested dimension and analytical significance for the study of global governance. Second, it shows how global governance complexity can erode focal organizations’ ability to maintain their focality, and how these organizations may attempt to uphold their leadership amid inter-institutional competition. Finally, the framework is empirically tested through three illustrations drawn from the historical evolution of the World Health Organization (WHO).