International regimes,transactions, and change:embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order John Gerard Ruggie A philosopher is someone who goes into a dark room at night, to look for a black cat that isn't there.A theologian does the same thing, but comes out claiming he found the cat. Nick Philips,"The Case of the Naked Quark," TWA Ambassador Magazine,October 1980. One of our major purposes in this volume is to establish whether we,as students of international regimes,most resemble the philosopher,the theologian or,as most of us would like to believe,the social scientist- suspecting from the beginning that there is a black cat in there somewhere, and emerging from the room with scratches on the forearm as vindication. This article consists of another set of scratches,together with what I hope will be persuasive reasoning and demonstration that a black cat put them there. My focus is on how the regimes for money and trade have reflected and affected the evolution of the international economic order since World War II.Let me state my basic approach to this issue at the outset,for,as Krasner shows in the Introduction,a good deal of the disagreement and confusion I have benefited from the comments and suggestions of a large number of friends,colleagues, and fellow travelers,and am particularly indebted to the detailed written remarks of Catherine Gwin,Ernst Haas,Robert Keohane,Stephen Krasner,and Susan Strange,as well as to Albert Fishlow's constructive criticism at the Palm Springs conference.Research for this article was made possible by financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ira D.Wallach Chair of World Order Studies at Columbia University. International Organization 36,2,Spring 1982 0020-8183/82/020379-37s1.50 C1982 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 379-- International regimes, transactions, and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar economic order John Gerard Ruggie A philosopher is someone who goes into a dark room at night, to look for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian does the same thing, but comes out claiming he found the cat. Nick Philips, "The Case of the Naked Quark," TWA Ambassador Magazine, October 1980. One of our major purposes in this volume is to establish whether we, as students of international regimes, most resemble the philosopher, the theologian or, as most of us would like to believe, the social scientist￾suspecting from the beginning that there is a black cat in there somewhere, and emerging from the room with scratches on the forearm as vindication. This article consists of another set of scratches, together with what I hope will be persuasive reasoning and demonstration that a black cat put them there. My focus is on how the regimes for money and trade have reflected and affected the evolution of the international economic order since World War 11.Let me state my basic approach to this issue at the outset, for, as Krasner shows in the Introduction, a good deal of the disagreement and confusion I have benefited from the comments and suggestions of a large number of friends, colleagues, and fellow travelers, and am particularly indebted to the detailed written remarks of Catherine Gwin, Ernst Haas, Robert Keohane, Stephen Krasner, and Susan Strange, as well as to Albert Fishlow's constructive criticism at the Palm Springs conference. Research for this article was made possible by financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ira D. Wallach Chair of World Order Studies at Columbia University. International Organization 36, 2, Spring 1982 0020-8183/821020379-37 $1.50 @ 1982 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology