Regime Complexity and Main Argument

Abstract

International regime complexity provides a framework that is useful for analyzing the questions that are addressed in this study. This chapter discusses the origins and development of the regime complexity approach and locates the arguments of the book relative to it and other approaches to the study of international organization and global governance. It defines the concept of a regime complex, reviews some of the shortcomings of the approach, and shows how the analysis of the complex for international finance contributes to the research program on regime complexity. This study is a comparison of institutional interaction in seven structured cases of lending programs, woven through a narrative of the euro crisis. The chapter then previews the main arguments of the book, including that regime complexity stems from states’ efforts to control agency drift and that key states mediate interinstitutional conflict informally.