The project "A Theory of World Entities", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), aims to contribute to the study and measurement of the role of world entities (institutionalized forms of multilateral international cooperation) in world politics. To this end, a dedicated analysis of three case studies (G20, International Labour Organization, Arctic Council) will be conducted with regard to their internal working and decision-making processes (internal world), their environmental embeddedness (external relations), and their contribution to the formation of global order structures (world order contribution).