International Organizations and the Expansion of the International System
The present version of the international system – organized around the sovereign state – emerged after waves of decolonization in the latter half of the twentieth century. But how did this transition from a world of empire to a global international system organized around the sovereign state play out? This talk traces this transition through an examination of membership debates in two prominent intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). IGOs are sites of contestation over what the international system is and should become.