Challenges conventional wisdoms concerning the role of trust in the origins of international cooperation and bipartisanship in US foreign policy.

1. Circles of trust: reciprocity, community and multilateralism; 2. Anarchical social capital: a social psychological theory of trust, international cooperation and institutional design; 3. The open circle: the failure of the League of Nations; 4. Squaring the circle: the birth of the United Nations; 5. Closing the circle: the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty; 6. Coming full circle: fear, terrorism and the future of American multilateralism.

Brian C. Rathbun is an Associate Professor in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Partisan Interventions: European Party Politics and Peace Enforcement in the Balkans (2004) as well as articles in International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Security Studies and the European Journal of International Relations among others.