Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T15:33:28.372Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Power and Peril of International Regime Complexity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Daniel W. Drezner
Daniel W. Drezner
Affiliation:
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University E-mail: daniel.drezner@tufts.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The proliferation of international rules, laws, and institutional forms raises important questions for regime theory. Looking at the theoretical and empirical arguments presented by all the contributors, however, it seems clear that that complexity's effects on actor strategies—particularly powerful actors—remain open to debate. Some of the posited effects of international regime complexity have contradictory or cross-cutting effects. Further effects of regime complexity—cross-institutional strategizing, the asymmetrical distribution of legal and technical expertise, and the fragmentation of reputation—can erode the significance of institutions in complex environments. This contribution considers the effect that regime complexity has on how powerful actors approach world politics—in part by connecting the current debate with past discussions about the significance of international regimes in world politics.

Type
Symposium
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 65 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aggarwal, Vinod. 2005. “Reconciling Institutions: Nested, Horizontal, Overlapping, and Independent Institutions.” Working paper, University of California at Berkeley, February.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J., and Meunier, Sophie. 2006. Nested and competing regimes in the transatlantic banana trade dispute. Journal of European Public Policy 13 (March): 362–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alter, Karen J., and Meunier, Sophie. 2009. The politics of regime complexity. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1): 13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, David, ed. 1993. Neorealism and Neliberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Benvenisti, Eyal, and Downs, George. 2007. The empire's new clothes: Political economy and the fragmentation of international law. Stanford Law Review 60 (2): 595–631.Google Scholar
Betts, Alexander. 2009. Institutional proliferation and the global refugee regime. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1): 53–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, John. 2007. Surrender Is Not an Option. New York: Threshold Editions.Google Scholar
Bounds, Andrew. 2007. “Thais Warned on Drug Pricing Pressure.” Financial Times, August 9.Google Scholar
Carr, E.H. 1964 [1939]. The Twenty Years' Crisis. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Chatterji, Aaron, and Listokin, Siona. 2007. Corporate social irresponsibility. Democracy: A Journal of Ideas 3 (Winter): 52–63.Google Scholar
Daalder, Ivo, and Lindsay, James. 2007. Democracies of the world, unite! The American Interest 2 (3): 34–44.Google Scholar
Downs, George, and Jones, Michael. 2002. Reputation, compliance, and international law. Journal of Legal Studies 31 (1, pt. 2): S95–S114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W. 2003. The hidden hand of economic coercion. International Organization 57 (3): 643–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W. 2007. All Politics Is Global: Explaining International Regulatory Regimes. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W. 2008. Two challenges to institutionalism. Can the World Be Governed? Possibilities for Effective Multilateralism, ed. Alexandroff, Alan. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press/CIGI.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Judith, Kahler, Miles, Keohane, Robert, and Slaughter, Anne-Marie, eds. 2001. Legalization and World Politics. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Judith, and Martin, Lisa. 2000. Legalization, trade liberalization, and domestic politics: A cautionary note. International Organization 54 (3): 603–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie. 2009. Coercing Human Rights. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Hasenclever, Andreas, Mayer, Peter, and Rittberger, Volker. 1996. Interests, power, knowledge: The study of international regimes. Mershon International Studies Review 40 (2): 177–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmann, Stephanie. 2009. Overlapping institutions in the realm of international security: The case of NATO and ESDP. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1): 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ikenberry, John, and Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2006. Forging a World of Liberty under Law: U.S. National Security in the 21st Century. Princeton: Princeton Project for National Security.Google Scholar
Johns, Leslie. 2007. A servant of two masters: Communication and the selection of international bureaucrats. International Organization 61 (2): 245–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, Cally, and Majnoni, Giovanni. 2002. “Financial Regulatory Harmonization and the Globalization of Finance.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2919, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jupille, Joseph, and Snidal, Duncan. 2005. “The Choice of International Institutions: Cooperation, Alternatives and Strategies.” Presented at the American Political Science Association annual meeting, Washington, DC, September 1–4.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert. 1984. After Hegemony. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert, and Martin, Lisa. 1995. The promise of institutionalist theory. International Security 20 (1): 39–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1982. Structural causes and regime consequences: Regimes as intervening variables. International Organization 36 (Spring): 185–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1991. Global communications and national power: Life on the Pareto frontier. World Politics 43 (April): 336–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipson, Michael. 2007. Peacekeeping: Organized hypocrisy? European Journal of International Relations 13 (January 2007): 5–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansfield, Edward. 1995. International institutions and economic sanctions. World Politics 47 (July): 575–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Lisa L., and Simmons, Beth. 1998. Theories and empirical studies of international institutions. International Organization 52 (Winter): 729–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mearsheimer, John J. 1994/95. The false promise of international institutions. International Security 19 (3): 5–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mearsheimer, John J. 2001. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Medina, Luis Fernando. 2005. The comparative statics of collective action. Rationality and Society 17 (4): 423–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, Helen V. 1997. Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, Andrew. 1997. Taking preferences seriously: A liberal theory of international politics. International Organization 51 (4): 513–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oxfam. 2006. “Patients versus Profits.” Oxfam Briefing Paper no. 95, November.Google Scholar
Oye, Kenneth, ed. 1986. Cooperation under Anarchy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Press, Daryl. 2005. Calculating Credibility. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Raustiala, Kal. 1997. Domestic institutions and international regulatory cooperation: Comparative responses to the Convention on Biological Diversity.” World Politics 49 (4): 482–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raustiala, Kal, and Victor, David. 2004. The regime complex for plant genetic resources. International Organization 58 (2): 277–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, Eric. 2003. Tying hands without a rope: Rational domestic response to international institutional constraints. In Locating the Proper Authorities, ed. Drezner, Daniel W.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Rosenau, James. 2007. Governing the ungovernable: The challenge of a global disaggregation of authority. Regulation and Governance 1 (1): 88–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas. 1960. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shanks, Cheryl, Jacobson, Harold, and Kaplan, Jeffrey. 1996. Inertia and change in the constellation of international governmental organizations, 1981–1992. International Organization 50 (4): 593–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth, and Weingast, Barry. 1981. Structure-induced equilibrium and legislative choice. Public Choice 37 (3): 503–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 1997. The real New World Order. Foreign Affairs 76 (September/October): 183–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2004. A New World Order. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Snidal, Duncan, and Abbott, Kenneth. 2000. Hard and soft law in international relations. International Organization 54 (3): 421–56.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, Joseph. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Sutherland, Peter, Bhagwati, Jagdish, Botchwey, Kwesi, FitzGerald, Niall, Mamada, Koichi, Jackson, John H., Lafer, Celso, and de Montrbrial, Thierry. 2005. The Future of the WTO: Addressing Institutional Challenges in the New Millennium. Geneva: World Trade Organization.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael. 2007. Reputation and International Cooperation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Voeten, Erik. 2001. Outside options and the logic of Security Council action. American Political Science Review 95 (4): 845–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth. 1979. Theory of International Politics. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 1999. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Oran. 1980. International regimes: Problems of concept formation. World Politics 32 (3): 331–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar