Reinalda treats the years 1815, 1919 and 1945 as critical turning
points when, after winning a major war, liberal major powers seized the initiative to create a new generation of international organizations
to structure world politics. However, he does not treat 1991 as a similar
watershed, even though John Ikenberry identifies 1991 as a critical
juncture “after victory” in the Cold War.18 During the 1990s, the United
States undertook modest institution building, but the United Nations
system and regional security and economic organizations persisted
beyond 1991, precluding institution building from scratch.
Was 1991 comparable to 1815, 1919, and 1945 in terms of a surge in
international institution building? To what extent are NGOs, not mentioned by Ikenberry, the characteristic organizational form of the new
global institutional order after the Cold War? How do some hegemonic
states benefit from the expansion of NGOs? Why is the actual power of
NGOs so frequently overlooked? More detailed historical study of the
tactics of mutual instrumentalization between states, NGOs and IGOs,
and the impact this has had on international politics, could illuminate
these questions.