The journal was founded in 1947 by the World Peace Foundation, a philanthropic institution. In its early years, the journal focused on the United Nations, but expanded its scope over time to become a general international relations journal. The journal has been credited with helping to establish the subfield of International Political Economy within International Relations. Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, who joined the journal in 1968, played an important role in steering the journal from scholarship focused on the UN to generalist scholarship in International Relations. Keohane and Nye broadened the definition of institution so that it did not exclusively refer to formal organizations. In the 1990s, the journal played an important role in expanding the theoretical pluralism of International relations scholarship, bringing prominence to social theories (such as rational choice and constructivism) alongside the traditional realist and liberal theoretical frameworks.
