Welcome to the Peer Review Observatory Maastricht (PROM)

Peer reviews among states are increasingly widely used as an instrument of global governance: Think about the many peer reviews of the OECD, the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, or about the variety of peer reviewing schemes in the European Union, such as its new rule of law peer review.

Yet, while there are many peer reviews, the results of some of them are taken more seriously by participants than others. How can this be explained?

The Peer Review Observatory Maastricht (PROM) looks at the functioning and the authority of peer reviews in various international organizations and policy fields. It conducts academic research and policy advice to interested audiences.  

PROM started off with a comparative research project that ran from 2013 to 2019. It explored why some peer reviews among states acquire authority, while other peer reviewing schemes do not. We looked at six peer reviewing schemes are organized in different organizational contexts (OECD; United Nations family, WTO, Council of Europe) and in different policy areas (the fight against corruption; human rights; economic and trade policies). Read an abstract of the project here…

The project was hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University and received funding by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek — NWO)  under its prestigious Innovational Research Incentive Scheme (VIDI).