International Organizations Perspectives on Governance in the Twenty-First Century

I WROTE THIS BOOK out of passion and frustration. International organizations are fascinating objects of stud: They are almost organic entities--evolving, changing, adapting, 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. The September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the response of the "international community" highlight the need to understand the world from different perspectives in order to understand and manage complicated problems. This text brings other theoretical perspectives to bear on the study of international organizations. It 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. Several people have contributed to the development of the second edition of this book. First, I thank the four reviewers who provided valuable insights and criticism: Timothy Nordstrom, University of Mississippi; Miriam Elman, Arizona State University; Lawrence LeBlanc, Marquette University; Ali R. Abootalebi, University of Wisconsin. I would also like to thank Bethany Keller, a graduate student in Webster University's International Relations Program, for her research on Indonesia. I thank my parents for their emotional support, and I would also like to acknowledge Webster University, which provided some financial assistance for research through its Faculty Research Grant Program. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to Casey, Kelsey, and Ryley Peace. Kelly-Kate S. PeacePease, Kelly-Kate S. is the author of 'International Organizations Perspectives on Governance in the Twenty-First Century', published 0012 under ISBN 9780130454270 and ISBN 0130454273.