For courses in International Organizations.

International Organizations: Perspectives on Governance in the Twenty-First Century integrates international organizations with international relations theory by showing how international organizations matter in the worlds of the realist, the Marxist, and the feminist, as well as the liberal.

Kelly-Kate Pease wrote this book out of passion and frustration. International organizations are fascinating objects of study. They are almost organic entities—evolving, changing, adapting, and even dying. However, many texts on international organizations tend to view the lives of international organizations through liberal lenses. Liberal lenses are not exactly rose-colored, but they are colored by the implicit assumption that international organizations are inherently “good” and that their “good” efforts are often thwarted by organizational weaknesses, world politics, or self-interested governments. Liberalism has contributed much to our understanding of global politics, but it has its blind spots. Examining international organizations solely from a liberal vantage does a disservice to the study of international organizations and to its development as a discipline. It unnecessarily narrows analysis; worse, it suggests that just one view of the world exists. This text brings other theoretical perspectives to bear on the study of international organizations.