International Organizations and Peaceful Change in World Politics

Critically evaluates whether or not international organizations contribute to peaceful change and how they can improve their performance.

T. V. Paul (Edited by), Anders Wivel (Edited by), Kai He (Edited by)

9781009509374, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 February 2025

364 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.68 kg

'The question of whether and how international organizations (IOs) contribute to peaceful change in world politics has pre-occupied scholars since the beginnings of International Relations as a discipline. This book marks a major theoretical and empirical milestone in the study of IOs at a time when the liberal international order faces enormous challenges. The editors are to be applauded for having gathered a phantastic/fantastic group of experts tackling the issue from a variety of perspectives.' Thomas Risse, Senior Professor of International Relations, the Cluster of Excellence 'Contestations of the Liberal Script' (SCRIPTS), Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

International organizations play an important, if imperfect, role in world politics, solving collective action problems in security, economic, environmental, and global health among others.  While many believe that international organisations have formed critical pillars of global governance, sceptics contend that they reflect the power politics of the day and the interests of hegemonic powers. This volume examines whether international organizations contribute to or detract from peaceful change, acting as agents of both status quo and stasis. Providing a historical overview of international organizations, from the nineteenth century to the current day, a team of leading scholars offer an overview of how major theoretical approaches – Liberalism, Constructivism, Rationalism and Realism – have contributed to our understanding of the role played by international organizations in peaceful change. In particular, the roles of the United Nations General Assembly, UN Peacekeeping, UN Environment Program, World Health Organization, World Trade Organization and G20 are analysed.

Part I. Introduction: 1. How international organizations promote or detract peaceful change T. V. Paul, Anders Wivel and Kai He
Part II. Theory: 2. Great power management, international organizations, and the promotion of peaceful change: 1815 to the present Arie M. Kacowicz
3. Liberalism, institutional statecraft, and international order G. John Ikenberry
4. Constructivism, international organizations and peaceful change: the case of NATO Trine Flockhart
5. When do rational IGOs promote peaceful change? Duncan Snidal
6. Beyond the Pax Americana: international organizations, 'peaceful change', and the Sino-American power shift Christopher Layne
Part III. Practice: 7. The UN General Assembly and peaceful change M. J. Peterson
8. Leveling peace: the role of UN peacekeeping in peaceful change Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé
9. Fifty years of advancing peaceful Change: UNEP and global environmental governance Maria Ivanova
10. Reconciling science and politics: the World Health Organization and the advancement of peaceful change Kelley Lee
11. The 'crisis of success' and peaceful change at the WTO and within the global trading system Aseema Sinha
12. International organizations and peaceful change: the evolving debate over the G20 Andrew Cooper
Part IV. Conclusions: 13. The science of peaceful change Ian Hurd
14. International organizations and peaceful change: towards a pluralistic research agenda Alice Chessé.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]