ABSTRACT
In his contribution, Richard Collins explains why, from the perspective of international organizations – which can themselves be classified as non-state actors – it is so difficult to make any general statements about the place of other non-state actors. Moreover, any finding in this respect remains either ambiguous or limited to the institutional regime concerned. It is against that backdrop that he provides a brief overview of the difficulties which have arisen in coming to terms with the legal identity of intergovernmental organizations since the mid-to-late nineteenth century. He also explains how IGOs have come to occupy a position somewhere between the inter-state and the non-state.
