History of international organizations

Bilateral and even multilateral relations between states have a long history, but the establishment of public international organizations functioning as institutions is essentially a development of the late nineteenth century. Consular relations designed to protect interests in commerce, and diplomatic relations concerned with representation of states, go far back in history: the former to the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans; the latter to a somewhat later period, taking its modern shape in the fifteenth century. It is in these institutions that the origins of the more complex institutions which started evolving in the early nineteenth century can be found. When bilateral relationships based on the existence of diplomatic embassies or missions were found to be inadequate to meet more complex situations arising from problems concerning not just two but many states, a means had to be found for representation in the same forum of the interests of all the states concerned. This was the international conference. It was the ad hoc temporary conference convened for a specific purpose and terminating once agreement was reached on the subject matter and a treaty was adopted that evolved ultimately into permanent international organizations with organs that function on a permanent basis and meet periodically.

The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 was the result of such a conference as was the settlement in 1815 through the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.