Health crisis, legal framework and economic issues: Rethinking the administrative power of the WHO

Abstract

The management of the pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) has provoked sharp criticism. Prominent scholars have suggested the urgent need for reform with more intrusive administrative powers to increase the authority of this organisation. On the contrary, observing the failure in the past of theories proposing a more authoritarian organisation, this paper argues that WHO needs sharing powers rather than intrusive powers. Given that the main international norms have arguably designated the WHO as a “non-authoritarian” authority aiming at the highest possible level of health individuals, the paper suggests that sharing administrative powers should be incentivised by involving all the relevant actors in the decision-making process, namely governments, national health authorities, and other non-state actors. In doing so, the paper also analyses the WHO organisational model in the light of the spillover effects of the health crisis on the global economy.