1.3 Structure of International Organizations

The structural template (the exam map): (1) the plenary organ (all members — the general assembly/conference: the budget, admissions, policy declarations — the "world parliament" metaphor's limits); (2) the limited-membership executive organ (the council — the Security Council, governing boards: the action's engine); (3) the secretariat (the administrator — the Secretary-General/Director-General and the international civil service); (4) the subsidiary and functional organs (commissions, committees, programmes — the work's subdivisions); (5) the judicial or expert organs where the design includes them (the ICJ, CJEU, the treaty bodies); (6) the members' interface (permanent missions, national authorities). Each constitution chooses the mix — the technical agencies lean executive-and-secretariat; the political bodies lean plenary- plus-executive.