Life Cycles of Global Governance

International organizations influence nearly every aspect of global life—from aid and finance to law, security, and development. At a moment when the liberal international order is widely described as being in decline, this volume offers a corrective. International organizations do not simply rise and fall; they are always in motion—adapting, fragmenting, or being repurposed in response to shifting conditions. A life-cycle perspective reveals that what appears as decline may instead reflect transformation. Although they are often treated as fixed landmarks of global politics, institutions rarely follow a linear path from creation to maturity. This interdisciplinary edited volume brings together scholars from law, political science, sociology, and international relations to reveal the life cycles of these institutions: their false starts, early challenges, periods of drift, moments of revitalization, and even their afterlives.Spanning cases from the 19th century to the present and covering diverse issue areas, the book offers a fresh perspective on why some organizations adapt while others stagnate or disappear. The volume shows how shifting political pressures, bureaucratic agency, and global shocks shape the fortunes of organizations from the UN, WTO, and World Bank to regional bodies and informal networks. By tracing these trajectories across disciplines and domains, The Life Cycles of Global Governance provides an accessible, richly textured account of how global cooperation actually unfolds—and why understanding institutional change is essential in today’s shifting international order.