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Assignment questions
Political ScienceEssayInternational relations

Three theories on international organizations

Emergence, persistence and survival are three different puzzles, and the theories do not perform equally on all three. Answering them separately is what turns a summary into an argument.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 15, 2026

01

Emergence, persistence and survival are three questions

The prompt names three phenomena rather than one, and the theories perform differently across them, so build the essay as a grid rather than as three summaries. Realism explains emergence well enough — organisations arise when powerful states find them useful, and reflect the distribution of power at their founding, which the composition of the Security Council makes plain. It explains persistence less well and survival worst of all, since on a strict reading an institution should dissolve once it stops serving the interests that created it, and many do not. Liberal institutionalism is strongest exactly there: organisations persist because they reduce transaction costs, provide information, make commitments credible and extend the shadow of the future, so states keep them even when a particular decision goes against them. Constructivism explains what neither does — that organisations acquire identities, norms and bureaucratic interests of their own, socialise their members, and can outlive their founding purpose entirely.

Then answer the second question rather than dodging it, since it asks which theory you think explains better. The defensible answer is usually that they answer different questions and that liberal institutionalism handles persistence best while constructivism handles survival past obsolescence, but you must commit and give reasons. Support the argument with examples that discriminate between the theories rather than illustrating all three equally: NATO's continuation after the Soviet collapse is the classic case, because realism struggles with it and both alternatives have an account. The World Trade Organization's paralysis and continued existence, and the persistence of poorly performing regional bodies, work similarly. Note the source restriction: books or academic journal articles only, with the named textbook as your main source, so a post built on web summaries will not satisfy the brief however good the argument, and the restriction is easy for a marker to check against your bibliography.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Treat emergence, persistence and survival as distinct explananda.
  • 02
    Assess each theory's performance on each phenomenon rather than in general.
  • 03
    Commit to a judgement about explanatory power and defend it.
  • 04
    Select examples that discriminate between theories rather than illustrating all of them.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

How do the three major theories explain the emergence, persistence and survival of international organizations? Which theory according to you provides a better explanation? Give reasons and examples to support your answer. The sources should be either books or an academic journal article. international organizations: the politics and processes of global governance 3rd edition book is the main source. Must check the attachment before start writing
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Discussion: Survival of international organizations Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Discussion: Survival of international organizations

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    Each theory's account of emergence, persistence and survival.
  2. 02
    A comparison identifying where each is strong and weak.
  3. 03
    A stated judgement on which explains better, with reasons.
  4. 04
    Discriminating examples, sourced from books or academic journal articles.
03

Each theory against each phenomenon, then your choice

01

Separate the three phenomena

Explain why emergence, persistence and survival are different puzzles.

02

Realism across the three

Show its strength on emergence and its difficulty with survival.

03

Liberal institutionalism across the three

Explain transaction costs, information and credible commitment as persistence mechanisms.

04

Constructivism across the three

Explain institutional identity, norms and bureaucratic interest.

05

Your judgement and the discriminating case

Commit to a view and support it with a case the theories handle differently.

04

Books or journal articles only

Recommended databases

  • Your named textbook on international organisations
  • International Organization and similar journals
  • JSTOR
  • University library book holdings

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Start from the textbook, since the brief names it as the main source.
  2. 2.
    Find one journal article per theory that applies it to a specific organisation rather than stating it abstractly.
  3. 3.
    Look for the debate over NATO's post-Cold War persistence, which is the standard discriminating case.
  4. 4.
    Check that every source is a book or an academic journal article before including it.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    UN Charter

    United Nations · 2024

    A founding document showing the power distribution encoded at emergence, which is the realist reading's evidence.

  2. 02

    Globalization

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · 2024

    Scholarly treatment of the conditions under which international institutions arise and endure.

  3. 03

    International Distributive Justice

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · 2024

    The normative dimension constructivism draws on, useful for the survival-past-purpose argument.

  4. 04

    Responsible business conduct

    OECD · 2025

    An instance of a standard-setting international body whose authority is normative rather than coercive.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Summarising the three theories without applying them to the three phenomena.
  • Declining to choose, when the prompt asks which explains better.
  • Using examples that all three theories accommodate equally.
  • Citing web sources when the brief restricts you to books and journal articles.
  • Treating survival as a synonym for persistence rather than as the harder case.

Submission checklist

  • Is each theory assessed on all three phenomena?
  • Have you committed to a judgement with reasons?
  • Do your examples discriminate between the theories?
  • Are all sources books or academic journal articles?
  • Is the named textbook used as the main source?

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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