Stratification in the System of International Organizations

This article explores some characteristics of international governmental organizations (IGOs) and their development. The most central findings are (1) very rapid increase in the number of economic and subregional organizations as compared with other types of IGOs, and (2) increasing stratification within transregional and global organizations and decreasing stratifi cation within regional and subregional ones. Furthermore, stratification has increased most notably within economic and military IGOs, while the opposite is case among socio-cultural and coordinative organizations.These trends might indicate the increasing significance of the 'bargaining model' of interna tional relations, especially in economic matters between developed and developing countries. Thus far, the realization of this structural model has not been possible for one simple reason: there is no collective organization strong enough in the Third World, so Great Powers have been able to apply a 'one-at-time' - policy in organizational interaction with developing coun tries.A typology of international organizations based on the ranks of member states is presented. This typology, for example, indicates that low total and high average rank of member states leads to a higher probability of organizational agreement upon great sectoral scope and high range in decision making.