This book offers a historical perspective on the development of informal and formal institutions while also shedding light on the contemporary tensions in the global system. It is a timely work as international institutions-and multilateralism-are under stress. It challenges how we should think about institutional change in terms of the idea of concertation in a context of fluid global environment. A compelling work of scholarship that recasts the study of International Relations and challenges its privileged Northern position.
Andrew F. Cooper is University Research Chair, Department of Political Science, and Professor at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo. From 2003 to 2010 he was Associate Director of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and in 2019 he received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Diplomacy Section of ISA. He is the author of 11 books, and the editor/co-editor of 22 collections, and his articles have been published in prestigious journals such as International Organization, International Affairs, World Development, and International Studies Review.