Organizational Environments and Boundaries: Exploring the in-Between

Abstract International organizations (IOs) have inner and external environments with which they interact. In this paper, we follow up on this idea and add the notion that IOs also have environments that exist in-between the internal and external sphere. We focus on entities which take part in the IOs proceedings to some degree, but still remain on the boundaries of the organization. We assume that these in-between spaces can appear either in an informal manner or in formalized structures, and include various actors from the IO’s environment. The in-betweens are conceptualized as spaces where IOs and entities from their environment interact with each other more closely, for instance by incorporating external actors into the organizational procedures and blurring boundaries. By conceptualizing IOs as open systems, we explore the idea of in-between -environments and examine how they are constituted and what characterizes these spaces on the organizational boundaries of IOs. To explore the various manifestations and functions of the in-between -environments, we examine them in the context of the International Labour Organization and Arctic Council. We find that the constitution of the in-between depends on the IO’s institutional design, and is characterized by its degree of formality, by fragility and intentionality.