International Regimes and International Relations Theorists

Recent interest in cognitive approaches to international interaction in general and international regimes in particular has not been matched by development in theory and methodology. This article details a systematic “subjective” approach that seeks to meet this need. Its claims are developed through its comparison with the accomplishments and shortcomings of more established approaches to the study of international interaction and, in particular, microeconomic formal theory. The subjective alternative can model both individual subjects and the systems in which they are participating. As such, it offers much more in terms of continuities and connections between agents and system structure than do traditional psychological analyses in international relations. The theoretical arguments proceed in the context of a study of cooperation and conflict over Antarctica and its evolving regimes.

Download Full-text

Geopolitical Economy and the Chimera of Hegemony

Historical Materialism ◽

10.1163/1569206x-00001508 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 281-293

Author(s):

Rowan Lubbock

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

International Relations Theory ◽

State System ◽

International Regimes ◽

The Social ◽

Social Discipline ◽

Capitalist State ◽

Conditions Of Possibility

Abstract This review critically engages with Radhika Desai’s concept of geopolitical economy as a framework for understanding the evolution of the capitalist state system. While presenting a useful challenge to many of the most deeply-held beliefs in International Relations theory, Desai’s over-reliance on a geopolitical lens produces a relatively one-sided account of the ways in which capitalism forges distinct international regimes and ideological formations under a given set of historical conditions of possibility. Thus, Desai’s somewhat opaque reading of the international relations of capitalism clouds our understanding of what the current conjuncture might entail for any possible future beyond the social discipline of capital.

Download Full-text

On Systems and International Regimes

World Politics ◽

10.2307/2009879 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 147-174 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Ernst B. Haas

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

International Relations ◽

Systems Theory ◽

Inverse Relationship ◽

Science And Technology ◽

International Regimes ◽

International Action ◽

The Social ◽

The Creation

As the consequences of science and technology impinge more and more on international relations, states attempt to deal with the promise and dangers implicit in these consequences by the creation of international regimes. The nature and scope of such regimes are justified, in part, by the scientific and technological givens with which they are to deal. Increasingly, however, the process of justification is dominated by constructs and arguments taken from systems theory, thus mixing the epistemological styles of the natural and the social sciences. It is often not clear whether justification in terms of systems theory is rhetoric or based on demonstrated isomorphisms. The article seeks to answer this question by presenting a four-fold typology of systems theories together with their assumptions and relevance to the creation of international regimes. The article then examines three specific proposals for international action on science and technology, prepared under OECD auspices, in order to demonstrate the extent to which they rely on systems theory and to determine how persuasive the systemic justification is. The conclusion: there is an inverse relationship between the elaborateness of the systemic justification and the acceptability of the regime on logical, empirical, and moral grounds.

Download Full-text

Theories of international regimes

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300027569 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 491-517 ◽

Cited By ~ 266

Author(s):

Stephan Haggard ◽

Beth A. Simmons

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Research Program ◽

Critical Review ◽

Domestic Politics ◽

International Regimes ◽

Major Focus ◽

Systemic Theory ◽

Major Shortcoming ◽

Game Theoretic ◽

Over Time

Over the last decade, international regimes have become a major focus of empirical research and theoretical debate within international relations. This article provides a critical review of this literature. We survey contending definitions of regimes and suggest dimensions along which regimes vary over time or across cases; these dimensions might be used to operationalize “regime change.” We then examine four approaches to regime analysis: structural, game-theoretic, functional, and cognitive. We conclude that the major shortcoming of the regimes literature is its failure to incorporate domestic politics adequately. We suggest a research program that begins with the central insights of the interdependence literature which have been ignored in the effort to construct “systemic” theory.

Download Full-text

International Regimes: Toward a New Theory of Institutions

World Politics ◽

10.2307/2010300 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 104-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Oran R. Young

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

International Relations ◽

Collective Behavior ◽

International Institutions ◽

The United States ◽

International Regimes ◽

Scholarly Work ◽

International Level ◽

World War ◽

Sustained Effort

The current burst of work on regimes or, more broadly, on international institutions, reflects an emerging sense—especially among Americans—that the international order engineered by the United States and its allies in the aftermath of World War II is eroding rapidly and may even be on the verge of collapse. But is the resultant surge of scholarly work on international regimes any more likely to yield lasting contributions to knowledge than have other recent fashions in the field of international relations? The jury will remain out until a sustained effort is made to evaluate the significance of regimes or institutions more broadly, as determinants of collective behavior at the international level.

Download Full-text

The WTO as Linkage Machine

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2686131 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 96 (1) ◽

pp. 146-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

José E. Alvarez

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

World Trade Organization ◽

International Law ◽

World Trade ◽

International Regimes ◽

Intergovernmental Organizations ◽

Interstate Cooperation ◽

The World ◽

State Actors

The contributors to this symposium, both principal authors and commentators, ably demonstrate that there are indeed “overarching constructs” linking the subdisciplines of international law. All of the writers here assume that linkage issues arise for the World Trade Organization, as they have with respect to a number of other intergovernmental organizations, precisely because centralized, quasi-autonomous institutions maybe relatively effective vehicles for the promotion of interstate cooperation between rational, egoistic state actors. All of them assume, as scholars of international relations and economists have long recognized, that many international regimes are linkage machines by their very nature. It is important to recall why this is so in order to consider when or how an organization’s attempts at linkage may fail.

Download Full-text

Order through Negotiation

International Negotiation ◽

10.1163/157180606778968353 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 341-352 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Paul Meerts

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

International Organizations ◽

Negotiation Process ◽

International Regimes ◽

Globalizing World ◽

Negotiation Processes

AbstractThe negotiation process can be a tool that generates order in international relations between states and international organizations. Order and structure are needed in a globalizing world of interdependencies and growing cleavages. The importance of international regimes in channeling and protecting negotiation processes is discussed. Regimes and interstate bargaining can only be effective if the main actors successfully balance their interests and activities. To create this equilibrium, extra-regime negotiations are as much needed as intra-regime bargaining, since negotiation is as much about situations as it is about structures, flexibility plus strength.

Download Full-text

FEATURES TRANSFORMATION STATE SOVEREIGNTY IN THE POST-BIPOLAR INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ◽

10.17721/apmv.2016.127.2.54-64 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (127) ◽

pp. 54-64

Author(s):

I. Oshchypok

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Multinational Corporations ◽

International System ◽

World Politics ◽

International Regimes ◽

Traditional Concept ◽

Scarce Resources ◽

National Boundaries ◽

The One ◽

Sphere Of Influence

The current state of the international system is characterized by dramatic changes in the international political, social and economic spheres of social interactions, and is characterized by qualitative transformation of Westphalian system of international relations. Westphalian system of international relations started its existence from the fact that the participants of international cooperation were only states that acted independently or formed coalitions to solve outstanding problems. At the end of the twentieth century it became apparent that other, too influential actors appear on the world arena. Together with the states on the modern transformation of the contemporary system of international relations exert considerable influence varied intergovernmental and international nongovernmental organizations, multinational corporations, and domestic regions. Globalization, characterized by the free movement of capital in order to obtain higher profits and expanding sphere of influence erodes national boundaries. The states are forced for economic stability and growth cooperate with international organizations and take them into the game. It is proved that the coming decades the traditional concept of sovereignty will be significantly transformed, and the notion will take another meaning and interpretation. Among the factors that would influence on the above mentioned the next ones are singled out: the internationalization of scarce resources and maybe territories; strengthening of the international regimes; expansion of transnational political spaces; formation of a global information space; global environmental and climatic imperatives etc. The confrontation of two countervailing trends is noted – to strengthen sovereignty, on the one hand, and its constraints on the other. And these trends are often embodied in the policies of one country or a group of countries. Within interpretations of sovereignty of the XXI century understanding of the limits of the autonomy of sovereign states in the choice of means in solving various domestic problems would be adjusted. In the context of international relations the subject of debate for decades will be the nature and principles of the use of coercive or other measures to opportunists in the international regimes of interaction on international and transnational levels of world politics, the mechanisms of global governance.

Download Full-text

Regimes Internacionais – Do intergovernamental público às arenas transnacionais público-privadas * International Regimes – From public intergovernmental to public-private transnational arenas

História e Cultura ◽

10.18223/hiscult.v4i1.1490 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 302

Author(s):

JOÃO PAULO CÂNDIA VEIGA ◽

MURILO ALVES ZACARELI

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

International Relations ◽

Global Governance ◽

International Political Economy ◽

International System ◽

Analytical Tool ◽

International Regimes ◽

Empirical Application ◽

History Of ◽

State Actors

Resumo: Os regimes internacionais foram desenvolvidos para compreender a cooperação em um sistema internacional mais integrado e multipolar. Sua aplicação empírica na história das relações internacionais foi bem sucedida tanto no alcance de temas quanto nos questionamentos teóricos e metodológicos que o conceito suscitou. Mudanças produzidas na economia política internacional dos anos 1970 explicam a sua ascensão como ferramenta analítica para compreender o curso da história na perspectiva das relações internacionais. Da mesma forma, a ascensão de atores não estatais e a constituição de arenas propriamente transnacionais tornaram o conceito obsoleto. Palavras-chave: Regimes Internacionais; atores não estatais; arenas transnacionais; governança global. Abstract: The international regimes have been developed to understand the cooperation in a more integrated and multipolar international system. Its empirical application in the history of international relations has been successful both in the range of topics and in the theoretical and methodological questions that the concept evokes. Changes produced in the international political economy of the 1970s explain the rise of the international regimes as an analytical tool to understand the course of history from the perspective of the international relations. Similarly, the rise of non-state actors and the establishment of transnational arenas have made the concept of international regimes obsolete.Keywords: International Regimes; non-state actors; transnational arenas; global governance.

Download Full-text

What Is a Supranational Constitution? An Essay in International Relations Theory

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s003467050001891x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 441-474 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Alec Stone

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Lower Order ◽

International Politics ◽

International System ◽

International Relations Theory ◽

Higher Order ◽

International Regimes ◽

Regime Theory ◽

Form Part ◽

Central Claim

Under the banner of “regime theory,” the study of international relations has experienced a massive if largely unacknowledged return to law, the study of the nature, scope, and relevance of norms international politics. Regime is shorthand for forms of institutionalized cooperation in the international system. The article provides one way to assess this movement. In part I, I develop an abstract conception of constitutions as bodies of metanorms, those higher order norms that govern how lower order norms are to be produced, applied, and interpreted. I then examine the extent to which international relations theory is equipped to recognize that some international regimes are constitutional in form (part II). In part III, I propose a means of situating all regime forms, from the most primitive to the full blown constitutional, along a continuum. The central claim is that the distinction made between international and domestic society, for the most part a matter of dogma in mainstream theory, is relative not absolute.

Download Full-text