The fraught history of climate talks, which are held under UN auspices, suggests it can give developing countries a voice but cannot eradicate power imbalances.
It was under the auspices of their West India Company, chartered in 1621, that the Dutch planted the settlements of the New Netherland in the valley of the Hudson.
It is commonly urged as an objection to schemes for raising employment by investment under the auspices of public authority that it is laying up trouble for the future.
Toby Dodge, who teaches at the London School of Economics, does much to fill that gap in his new book, published under the auspices of the nearby International Institute for Strategic Studies.