International Organization

For well over a century, international organizations have been central to the study and practice of international relations and global governance. But how much and how do they help, hinder or otherwise alter the behaviour of the actors who utilize them and provide public goals for the global community as a whole? By assembling the leading works that have defined the scholarly field of international organization from realist, liberal institutionalists, constructivists and political economy traditions, this work examines the many organizations which have formed, in ever-expanding numbers and fields, over the years, the degree to which they have succeeded and their future potential. It looks at the changing international arena, particularly with the expansion of civil society and how that affects the role of such organizations. Has a formula for an effective and successful international organization developed or will one have to wait for the next generation of organizations, institutions and regimes?

Contents: Introduction; Part I Overviews of the Field: International organization: a state of the art on an art of the state, Friedrich Kratochwil and John Gerard Ruggie; Theories and empirical Studies of international institutions, Lisa L. Martin and Beth A. Simmons; What are international institutions?, John Duffield. Part II Core Concepts and Competing Theories: Power and Interdependence revisited, Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye Jr; Structural causes and regime consequences: regimes as intervening variables, Stephen D. Krasner; International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order, John Gerard Ruggie; International institutions: 2 approaches, Robert O. Keohane; Concerts, collective security, and the future of Europe, Charles A. Kupchan and Clifford A. Kupchan; The false promise of international institutions, John J. Mearsheimer. Part III New Directions: Introduction: epistemic communities and international policy coordination, Peter M. Haas; Multilateralism and world order, Robert W. Cox; Is American multilateralism in decline?, G. John Ikenberry; Imagined (security) communities: cognitive regions in international relations, Emanuel Adler; Governance, good governance and global governance: conceptual and actual challenges, Thomas G. Weiss; The emerging roles of NGOs in the UN system: from Article 71 to a people's millennium assembly, Chadwick Alger. Part IV Compliance, Effectiveness and the Domestic Dimension: Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of 2-level games, Robert D. Putnam; The politics, power, and pathologies of international organization, Michael N. Barnett and Martha Finnemore; Name index.

John J. Kirton, Professor, University of Toronto, Canada