Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

3 Conceptual work
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With the passage of time the population, importance and role of International Organizations is
growing so International organizations as a field of study has attracted more and more researcher
and social scientists who worked on the development of conceptual frame of work to have an in-
depth understanding.
3.1 Defining international organizations
The term “international” was coined by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), an English philosopher.
This term is very broad in its sense as compare to other similar terms: transnational,
multinational, interstates, intergovernmental and trans-governmental. International is in itself not
a synonym of these terms. The word “international” refers to activities between individuals and
groups in one state and individuals and groups in another state as well as intergovernmental
relations and activities (Archer, 2001).
The word organization has been derived from the Greek word organon, which means tool. In
social sciences an organization is a formal arrangement to pursue one or more preset shared
goals, to interact with individuals, institutions and other organizations. It controls its own
performance through hierarchal administration and management with well defined
responsibilities. An organization has a well defined permeable boundary that separates the
organization from its environment or surrounding. The permeability of the boundary varies from
one organization to other.
This term came in Sociology in 15 th century form Biology where it was in use since long.
According to Dictionnaire de Sociologie (Akoun & Ansart, 1999) “Le mot vient de la biologie
avant d‟arriver en sociologie. Initialement (XIVe), organiser c‟est rendre apte à la vie. Un
organe est une partie d‟un être vivant. Un organisme est un ensemble vivant dans un milieu. Par
analogie, l‟organisation désigne un mode de fonctionnement : celui d‟une action ou de l‟entité
qui résulte” (Akoun et Ansart 1999).
In sociology "organization" means planned, coordinated and purposeful actions to achieve
common goal or to produce, construct or compile a common tangible or intangible product.
Organization is a permanent arrangement of elements and actions. The action/s is usually
outlined in rules or constitution or by laws of that organization.