INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS THEORY AND MULTILATERALISM - THE SEARCH FOR FOUNDATIONS

While international relations scholars have studied particular multilateral organizations, they have paid surprisingly little attention to multilateralism as an organizing principle of international political economy. A working hypothesis is that part of this inattention is due to the structure of international relations theory. How far can theories based solely on isolated (asocial) states relating anarchically take us? This article examines three broad categories of theories-individualist, social-communicative, and institutional theories-and assesses their implications tor international relations theorizing.