Using a Rational Design approach, it explores five features of institutions and explains their variation.

1. The rational design of international institutions Barbara Koremenos et al.; 2. Trust building, trust breaking: the dilemma of NATO enlargement Andrew Kydd; 3. The optimal design of international trade institutions: uncertainty and escape B. Peter Rosendorff and Helen V. Milner; 4. Most-favored-nation clauses and cluster negotiations Robert Pahre; 5. Situation structure and institutional design: reciprocity, coercion, and exchange Ronald B. Mitchell and Patricia M. Keilbach; 6. Private justice in a global economy: from litigation to arbitration Walter Mattli; 7. Multilateralizing trade and payments in postwar Europe Thomas H. Oatley; 8. The institutional features of the Prisoners of War Treaties James D. Morrow; 9. Institutions for flying: how states built a market in international aviation service John E. Richards; 10. Driving with the rearview mirror: on the rational science of institutional design Alexander Wendt; 11. Rational design: looking back to move forward Barbara Koremenos et al.