Tracing Global Governance: Policy Development in an International Arena

Abstract

Political science offers different accounts of what world politics actually is, how it works, and what the most important underlying processes are. While in simplified terms the realist tradition emphasizes the role of the state and its interests in comparison to other states’ interests, liberal intergovernmentalists mainly consider the interest of states in solving common problems. Constructivists tend to see states as being embedded in common worldviews and being shaped by ideas. The theoretical model that I develop on the next pages follows the latter concept, without denying that states have interests and pursue goals. The main aim, however, is to analyze how states are influenced by world politics, and which central actors, mechanisms, and processes exist in this context.