Welcome to PROM — The Peer Review Observatory Maastricht
Peer reviews among states are increasingly widely used as an instrument of global governance: Think about the work of the OECD, about the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review that seeks to change the observance of human rights for the better, or about variety of peer reviewing schemes in the European Union, called the Open Method of Coordination in EU-speak.
Yet, while there are many peer reviews, some of them are taken more seriously than others. How can we explain this? How and why do some peer reviews among states acquire authority, while other peer reviewing schemes don’t?
The research project presented on these pages answers this question by looking at nine different peer reviewing schemes. They are organised by three different international organizations (EU; OECD; United Nations family) and in three policy areas (the fight against corruption; environmental and energy policy; macroeconomic policies).
The project is hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Science of Maastricht University.
It is funded by the Dutch Organisation for Academic Research (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek — NWO) under its prestigious Innovational Research Incentive Scheme (VIDI).
