Authors of academic works don't usually get a second chance: once a book is published, it is published, and there is no opportunity left to make improvements. Unless, that is, when somehow a second edition seems opportune. Such a new edition seemed opportune in this case, for a lot has happened since the first edition was written. The EU has almost doubled in membership (from 15 to 27), it saw a Constitutional Treaty rejected by citizens in two of its member states, and a watered down version (the Lisbon Treaty) by the citizens of yet a third. The ECSC Treaty, moreover, died a natural death: it expired. NATO continued its activities out-of-area, which had started with the proverbial bang by bombing Belgrade. 9/11 happened, and arguably is the main factor behind the quasi-legislative role assumed by the UN Security Council and behind the willingness of the US to pay its membership contributions to the UN. But most of all, the discussion on the control of international organizations has really taken off. While the contours of that discussion have been visible since, say, the early 1990s, recent years have seen an explosion of activities somehow related to control: it is no coincidence that over the last couple of years many organizations have created the function of compliance officer, or have created or boosted organs dealing with issues of control and accountability. Organizations have, so to speak, become card-carrying members of ‘the audit society’.