Health crisis, legal framework and economic issues: Rethinking the administrative power of the WHO

The management of the pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO)has provoked sharp criticism. Prominent scholars have suggested the urgentneed for reform with more intrusive administrative powers to increase the au-thority of this organisation. On the contrary, observing the failure in the pastof theories proposing a more authoritarian organisation, this paper argues thatWHO needs sharing powers rather than intrusive powers. Given that the maininternational norms have arguably designated the WHO as a “non-authorit -arian” authority aiming at the highest possible level of health individuals, thepaper suggests that sharing administrative powers should be incentivised by in -volving all the relevant actors in the decision-making process, namely govern-ments, national health authorities, and other non-state actors. In doing so, thepaper also analyses the WHO organisational model in the light of the spillovereffects of the health crisis on the global economy.