I. Introduction

The deepening of globalization has brought about global issues (such as environmental pollution, immigration, terrorism, etc.), highlighting the necessity of global governance, which refers to the procedures and practices of managing political, economic, and social affairs at the world or regional level. Due to the existence of collective action dilemmas, state cooperation alone is insufficient for effective governance; international organizations, with their organized and institutionalized characteristics, have become an effective choice for advancing global governance. Organizations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization play key roles in maintaining global order. Existing research has largely been conducted from economic and political perspectives, but comprehensive review studies are lacking. This paper employs knowledge mapping methods, integrating WOS and CNKI databases, and through keyword clustering, document co-citation, and burst analysis, comprehensively presents the publication trends, research hotspots, and knowledge foundations in this field, and predicts future directions to provide reference for researchers.

II. Research Methods and Sample Sources

The research adopts Citespace (6.2.R2) software to construct knowledge maps, setting a time span of 2000–2025, and uses betweenness centrality and cluster analysis to explore the evolutionary trends of the field; samples are sourced from the WOS core database and CNKI journal database, and after manual screening, 1,590 foreign-language documents and 441 Chinese documents were finally obtained.

III. Statistical Analysis of Literature

This section analyzes the annual trends in publication volume and core journals for international organization and global governance research from 2000 to 2025. In terms of publication volume, both Chinese and foreign literature show a growth trend, with 2009 being a key turning point: growth was slow before this, but rapidly accelerated afterward, which is closely related to academic attention to the effectiveness evaluation of international organizations and institutional reforms after the 2008 global financial crisis. In terms of journal distribution, the most frequently cited journals in the WOS database are *International Organization*, *International Studies Quarterly*, and *Global Governance*, while in the CNKI database, *World Economics and Politics*, *International Outlook*, and other journals lead, providing important platforms for academic exchange and research advancement in this field.

IV. Keyword Detection

Through keyword co-occurrence analysis and cluster analysis, this section systematically reveals the hotspots and theoretical implications of Chinese and English literature on international organizations and global governance research. At the co-occurrence analysis level, Chinese and English literature show four commonalities: the symbiotic relationship between governance concepts and international organizations, states as core variables affecting governance effectiveness, the research belonging to the discipline of international relations, and attention to institutional innovation issues in the context of deglobalization. There are also significant differences: English literature focuses on liberal normative issues such as "human rights" and "democracy," while Chinese literature highlights three characteristics: "multilateralism," "China's solutions," and "digital transformation." Cluster analysis further refines the research landscape: English literature focuses on the participation of emerging powers such as India, implementation dilemmas of global health policy, application of social network analysis methods, and institutional defects of the *International Health Regulations*; Chinese literature centers on structural dilemmas of global security governance, improvement of the legal status of international non-governmental organizations, China's practice in global health governance, and dilemmas of international rule of law. These analyses ultimately point to three tensions in the deep structure of the discipline: the debate between "state-centric" and "pluralistic actors" at the governance subject level, the game between "efficiency" and "equity" at the value orientation level, and different cognitive frameworks formed by Chinese and English literature due to differences in academic traditions and realistic status—the former致力于 building an autonomous knowledge system to interpret Chinese practice, while the latter continues the Western order tradition focusing on value norms.

V. Document Co-citation Analysis

Through document co-citation analysis, this section reviews highly cited literature and its evolutionary trajectory in international organization and global governance research. In terms of research methods, English literature mostly adopts diverse methods such as case analysis and data argumentation, forming a writing framework of "theoretical framework—empirical argumentation—case analysis"; Chinese literature mainly relies on case analysis, with limited application of data analysis, and needs to introduce interdisciplinary analytical tools and improve the theoretical and practical quality of analytical frameworks in the future. Research content covers five core issues: first, three major dilemmas faced by international organizations: regulatory overlap, lack of "democracy," and politicization of governance; second, legitimacy as a function for organizations to obtain resources, shape norm compliance, and establish governance authority; third, the impact of resource endowment, operational mechanisms, types of authority, and organizational autonomy on governance effectiveness; fourth, the characteristics of global governance breaking through the sovereign state-centered model and forming a three-dimensional architecture of pluralistic subjects; fifth, the evolution of global environmental governance from institutional construction to analysis of the causes of institutional "stagnation."

Cited document burst analysis shows that English literature research has gone through two stages: 2009–2013 focused on institutional complexity, with scholars such as Biermann and Alter exploring types and causes of global governance fragmentation and "contested multilateralism"; 2014–2025 shifted to international organization legitimacy and global governance coordination, with Dellmuth, Hale, and others focusing on procedural justice, performance effects on legitimacy, and transnational governance coordination mechanisms. Chinese literature has fewer burst documents, with Yu Bowen, Zhou Yijiang, and Chen Xuelian respectively studying the evolution of climate governance paths, the shaping of international organization autonomy, and the construction of structural power, all reflecting the realistic demand to enhance the authority and autonomy of international organizations under the erosion of unilateralism.

Theoretical evolution presents three paths: research perspectives expand from "institution-centered" to "process-centered" and "actor-centered," focusing on dynamic governance processes and strategic interactions among pluralistic actors; legitimacy cognition evolves from "unified authorization" to "pluralistic coupling," integrating procedural legitimacy, governance performance, and professional authority; problem awareness shifts from "normative construction" to "actual effectiveness," confronting the reality of governance failure and analyzing factors affecting effectiveness.

VI. Future Directions of International Cooperation Under Global Governance Initiatives

This section explores the future directions of international cooperation in the context of global governance initiatives, proposing four development directions: first, promoting the return of multilateralism and institutional reconstruction, emphasizing "true multilateralism," and enhancing the representation and voice of developing countries; second, promoting depoliticization of governance issues and pragmatic cooperation, focusing on public goods provision such as climate change and global health, and establishing "small and beautiful" cooperation platforms; third, strengthening synergistic governance among emerging powers and pluralistic actors, forming a network structure of "core international organizations building platforms, pluralistic actors synergistically contributing"; fourth, leading inclusive construction of governance rules in emerging fields, promoting the formation of balanced international rules reflecting the concerns of countries at different development stages around issues such as AI ethics and cross-border data flows.

VII. Conclusion and Outlook

Based on literature from WOS and CNKI databases from 2000 to 2025, this study uses Citespace visualization analysis to梳理 the thematic脉络 and knowledge evolution of international organization and global governance research. The findings are: research in this field has continued to rise in popularity, entering a rapid growth period after 2009, with *World Economics and Politics* and *International Organization* being the most influential Chinese and English journals; high-frequency keywords cover global governance, climate change, legitimacy, multilateralism, etc., with core themes including fair trade, global health governance, and other sectors; research content has gradually evolved from international institutional complexity to multilateralism, organizational legitimacy, and governance coordination issues; disciplinary development shows highly problem-oriented, interdisciplinary integration, and practical interaction characteristics, with theoretical focus shifting from institutional ontology to governance process and performance analysis. Future research will focus on four directions: first, theoretical interpretation and practical evaluation of the "Global Governance Initiative," constructing critical dialogue with mainstream paradigms and multi-dimensional evaluation frameworks; second, international organization actions in the new period, exploring strengthened climate governance supervision, innovative technical assistance, and rule-shaping in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence; third, jurisdictional overlap and organizational authority,破解 the dilemma of weakened core authority and declining effectiveness caused by functional overlap; fourth, international organization reform, conducting in-depth discussions on decision-making mechanism optimization, legal reform guarantees, and strategies to应对 "major power withdrawal."