An intergovernmental organization and its reputation according to politicians : case: the United Nations in Finland

The purpose of this research is to estimate what kind of reputation the United Nations has amongst the Members of Parliament of Finland who are also members of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The theoretical framework concentrates on the terms reputation, image, intergovernmental organization and issues management. The theory part also concerns the UN as an intergovernmental organization and Finland’s history as a member of the UN. The research is a case study and the method chosen is semi-structural thematic interview. Six Members of Parliament took part in the interviews and they took place during spring and summer 2014. The research data shows that the respondents consider the UN important but, at the same time, it is considered ineffective and bureaucratic organization. Especially its slow involvement in the crisis and the Security Council’s actions were criticized. Although, the reputation is two-folded, the UN was still considered as an important actor internationally. The corporate image model of the UN according to Finnish politicians was formed based on the research data. The model is formed of four elements that describe the reputation. However, this research is not thorough enough for defining elements of reputation for intergovernmental organizations in a more general sense. Therefore there is a need for further research because the reputation of the IGOs has not received enough academic attention. In addition, the model of the elements of the reputation of the IGOs needs further research.