Delegation and stewardship in international organizations

International organizations (IOs) are driven by political-administrative interactions between member states and IO administrations. To model these understand their outcomes, scholars have predominantly, almost exclusively, relied on agency theory. Yet, as this paper argues, delegation can also take a form of stewardship, where goal conflict information asymmetries low. In stewardship relationships, trust the administration, which enables softer, more informal exercise control. Both relationships illustrated in comparative case study FAO WFP. As interview data document analysis show, while exhibits agency, WFP provides an example for stewardship. The findings imply that conventional Principal-Agent assumptions should not be taken given. Not all administrations self-serving agents. provide implications control performance call scholarship to redirect its focus de facto rather than jure characteristics.