ABSTRACT
This volume explores the concept of international regimes. International regimes are defined as principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actor expectations converge in a given issue-area. As a starting point, regimes have been conceptualized as intervening variables standing between basic causal factors on the one hand and outcomes and behavior on the other. This formulation raises two basic questions: first, what is the relationship between basic causal factors such as power, interest, and values, and regimes? Second, what is the relationship between regimes and related outcomes and behavior? The first question is related to a number of basic paradigmatic debates about the nature of international relations. But for the purposes of this volume the second is equally or more important. It raises the issue of whether regimes make any difference.
