ABSTRACT
International relations theorists explicitly differentiate international regimes from international organisations. International regimes are most commonly defined as "principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors' expectations converge in a given area of international relations". This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book focuses on the governing of global trade, and the G7/G8, the Quad, and the OECD have been much more directly involved with global trade issues than the RTAs. The change from the OEEC to the OECD in the 1960s, the formation of the G7 in the 1970s, and the creation of the Quad in the 1980s all resulted in part from the need for collective decision-making as US economic hegemony declined. The book focuses on the Quad, the G7/G8, and the OECD, because of the prominent role of these institutions in the global trade regime.
