International Organizations

- What role do humanitarian organizations play in crises such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East? - How does policing work at an international level? - Why has the US only ratified three of the seven major human rights treaties? - Who guides the international response to climate change, and is it working? This new textbook introduces readers to the nature, structure and purpose of international organizations (IOs). Taking a broad, issues-based approach, the book goes beyond a conventional focus on topics like security and finance to cover global health, migration, food security, and technology. In addition to providing cases of the best-known intergovernmental organizations such as the UN and the World Trade Organization, this text gives space to a wide variety of other bodies, including international non-governmental organizations, non-state actors and multinational enterprises. It looks at the motivations behind regional cooperation with case studies of the European Union and the African Union, and at human rights with reference to bodies as diverse as the International Criminal Court and Amnesty International. Assuming no prior knowledge of the subject, International Organizations uses a range of pedagogical tools and visual features to guide understanding. These include: graphs to illustrate key trends; regional and world maps to illustrate wealth, democracy and development; tables of major international treaties and organizations; chapter previews; and lists of key terms and organizations. The text also makes use of IOs in Theory, IOs in Action and Spotlight boxes to answer focused questions and provide more detail on how IOs operate in different parts of the world. This contemporary survey is an essential text for those studying global governance and international organizations.