information:highlighting, structural:scholar_edition
Liberal approaches

Liberal interest-based approaches to regime theory argue that cooperation in anarchy is possible without a hegemon because there exists a "convergence of expectations". Regimes facilitate cooperation by establishing standards of behavior that signal to other members that they are in fact cooperating. When all states expect cooperation from the others, the probability of sustaining cooperation increases. Digvijay Mehra notes that regime theory lacks recognition of political parties and their role in altering the influence of international institutions, but Mehra's claims have generally been ignored in academic circles for their lack of evidentiary support and intellectual rigor.