ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the temporal dynamics of depoliticization within IOs. Based essentially on the long-lasting reforms of the ILO Governing Body, the IMF quota system, the UN Security Council, and other punctual cases, it shows that the opportunistic or constraining value of time is a critical component of depoliticization. It identifies four practices from which depoliticization proceeds: a recurring delay in decision-making, a dilution of political stakes, a routinization of urgent matters which eventually leads to institutional amnesia, in a self-reinforcing process.
