ABSTRACT
Multilateralism is the practice and principle of three or more states
committing to collective action, according to established rules, to
address common problems and opportunities. Scholarship on multi-
lateralism analyzes regularized interaction amongst states in many
areas of policy, although studies on economic cooperation and trade
have become the most theoretically mature. In particular, this explores
the incentives that states perceive in creating and supporting multi-
lateral institutions and regimes – which can be both informal arrangements or formal organizations. Much of this scholarship
approaches the subject of multilateralism within an anarchical model
of international politics where the state is the primary actor and power
is the prevailing organizing principle. Anarchical, but ‘‘not lacking in
rules and norms.’’1
