ABSTRACT
The case studies in this volume can be read with several purposes in mind. First, they provide a rich description of changes in intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) over the postwar years. The cases reveal common patterns, as well as differences, that characterize the role of IGOs in promoting international collaboration. Second, the cases illuminate the relationship between the United States and various IGOs and, in particular, the ability of the United States to achieve its goals by working through IGOs. This has important implications for American policy in a world in which simple patterns of East-West (or even North-South) alignment have broken down and in which American ability to achieve its goals unilaterally is uncertain. Third, we find important evidence on the workings of international cooperation and regimes. Because the cases have been constructed with a deliberate eye toward general issues of international politics, they offer significant insights to contemporary international relations theory. This chapter develops the resulting implications for further theoretical development.1
