Routledge History of International Organizations: From 1815 to the Present Day

This is a definitive and comprehensive history of international organizations from their very beginning at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 up to the present day, and provides the reader with nearly two centuries of world history seen from the perspective of international organizations. It covers the three main fields of international relations: security, economics and the humanitarian domain which often overlap in international organizations. As well as global and intercontinental organizations, the book also covers regional international organizations and international non-governmental organizations in all continents.
The book progresses chronologically but also provides a thematic and geographical coherence so that related developments can be discussed together. A series of detailed tables, figures, charts and information boxes explain the chronologies, structures and relationships of international organizations. There are biographies, histories and analysis of hundreds of international organizations.
This is an essential reference work with direct relevance to scholars in international relations, international political economy, international economics and business and security studies.

Bob Reinalda is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the Department of Political Science, Nijmegen School of Management at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He has written extensively about the history of social movements, non-governmental organizations, autonomous policy making by, decision making within and implementation by intergovernmental organizations, and the Bologna Process.

1. International organizations as a cooperation between governments and citizens 2. 1815: the invention of the multilateral conference plus follow-up conference 3. The Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine and burgeoning free trade 4. Citizens organizing transnationally 5. The International Red Cross made responsible for the Geneva Convention 6. Arbitration and international law as normative powers 7. The 1899 and 1907 peace conferences: the Hague system 8. Creation of public international unions 1865-1914 9. Standardization and intellectual property recognized internationally 10. Regulation of international shipping, railway and road traffic 11. International organizations and continental markets 1860-1910 12. International business 13. Rising international emancipation movements 14. The international foundation of the welfare state 15. World war and the creation of the League of Nations16. Great powers and collective security during the interwar period 17. The workings of the International Labour Organization 18. The League of Nations’ economic and social activities 19. International cooperation during the Second World War 20. The United Nations: an improved security organization with economic coordination 21. The United Nations system 22. Collective security in a bipolar world 23. Regional alliances of the 1940s and 1950s 24. The Bretton Woods institutions and their laborious beginnings 25. Early European economic cooperation 26. Decolonization, anti-apartheid and peaceful coexistence 27. The UN Development Decade: North versus South 28. The G7 undermining the UN system 29. Influence of non-governmental organizations 30. Human rights as normative power 31. Highlighting the Cold War 32. Reagonomics, IMF and economic adjustment 33. The end of the Cold War 34. A new world order and an agenda for peace? 35. From GATT to World Trade Organization 36. Free trade versus environment and the welfare state 37. IMF, IBRD and WTO criticized 38. Continued and new regionalism 39. Harming collective security 40. International Organizations since 1815 Appendix: Nation-states in the international system since 1815