Evaluating crisis response speed of international organisations: why it matters and how to achieve it

Armed conflicts, pandemics or natural disasters often necessitate rapid, coordinated responses by international organisations (IOs) to avoid escalation or loss of life. However, effective analytical tools to assess and compare the speed of these responses are lacking. This paper introduces a framework for evaluating IO crisis response speed, with the aim of better understanding which IOs are best equipped to offer rapid crisis responses and which are not. I propose a three-stage model that measures the time for IOs to (a) recognise a crisis, (b) decide on measures and (c) implement these measures, while also accounting for variations in levels of precision and obligation. Using empirical insights from the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, I demonstrate how this model can generate data that can improve our understanding of the performance of IOs as crisis managers and foster discussions on enhancing the speed and efficiency of multilateral responses during crises.