International organizations are a central feature of global governance and have fascinated practitioners and scholars alike. Despite being a relatively new phenomenon, international organizations have gained increasing authority, appear in increasing numbers and cover almost any issue area in international politics. Moreover, they have practical importance: States create and maintain them, operate through them, and more often than not, implement their decisions. International organizations come in different shapes and forms: formal and informal, task-specific and general-purpose and some adapt frequently while others resist reform. This seminar provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research on international organizations. The core theme of this seminar is how international organizations develop over time. The seminar is structured into four blocks: In a first block, we will look at definitions and core concepts of international organizations to set the stage for contemporary analysis of international organizations. In a second block, we will focus on theoretical approaches to explain the creation and design of international organizations. In a third block, we will focus on the analysis of decision-making, stability, change and reform of international organizations. In a final block, we will center on state-of-the-art analysis of the vitality and death of international organizations as well as exit from international organizations. In each session, we will take a look at an exemplary formal or informal international organization, including the WHO, the UN Security Council, the G7/20, among others Schließen