I have always tried to impress upon my students the relative novelty and fragility of international organizations as a political phenomenon. A dozen years ago, that caution likely struck most students as hollow. And a lot of scholarship on the subject pointed to the durability of these organizations. For institutionally minded observers, this pointed to the generally welcome ability of formal organizations to insinuate themselves into international politics. Realists tended to either warn that dissolution was just around the corner (see the frequent predictions of NATO’s death after the Cold War) or to insist that the endurance of these organizations said nothing about their relevance.
How international organizations die
How international organizations die
How international organizations die
I have always tried to impress upon my students the relative novelty and fragility of international organizations as a political phenomenon. A dozen years ago, that caution likely struck most students as hollow. And a lot of scholarship on the subject pointed to the durability of these organizations. For institutionally minded observers, this pointed to the generally welcome ability of formal organizations to insinuate themselves into international politics. Realists tended to either warn that dissolution was just around the corner (see the frequent predictions of NATO’s death after the Cold War) or to insist that the endurance of these organizations said nothing about their relevance.