caa a22 4500 388051159 CHVBK 20180307125054.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1998 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1162/002081898753162866 doi S0020818398440402 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1162/002081898753162866 Managing the Evolution of Multilateralism [Elektronische Daten] One of the most prominent characteristics of multilateral organizations is that they do not "spring forth full blown”; they grow. Although this is well known, relatively few attempts have been made to explain it at a general level or to explore its implications. In this paper we show why states that desire to create a multilateral organization or agreement might be attracted to a strategy that involves admitting potential members sequentially based on their preferences. Such a "sequential construction” strategy can generate an unusual kind of structure-induced equilibrium that dramatically mitigates the breadth-depth trade-off and increases the level of cooperation a multilateral is able to attain. We evaluate these claims with data drawn from the history of the European Union and twenty environmental multilaterals. Copyright © The IO Foundation 1998 Downs George W. Rocke David M. Barsoom Peter N. International Organization Cambridge University Press 52/2(1998), 397-419 0020-8183 52:2<397 1998 52 INO https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898753162866 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1162/002081898753162866 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Downs George W. NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Rocke David M. NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Barsoom Peter N. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Organization Cambridge University Press 52/2(1998), 397-419 0020-8183 52:2<397 1998 52 INO CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge