My book project examines how international institutions with historically racist practices evolve toward more equal ones. I introduce the theory of "anti-racist capture," arguing that institutional transformation requires two conditions: sustained external pressure, through naming and shaming and the collective threat of member exit, and the presence of ideologically motivated bureaucratic entrepreneurs within the institution itself.

The project's primary case is the International Criminal Court, which spent its first two decades focusing almost exclusively on Africa before shifting to investigate individuals outside the continent. The book also examines the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization's move to abandon its "colorblind" approach, tracing gains in the bargaining power of developing countries and the evolution of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Mechanism toward greater substantive equality. To test the theory's necessity claims, I process-trace two negative cases, the League of Nations Mandates System and UN Peacekeeping Operations, in which sustained naming and shaming failed to produce change in the absence of viable exit threats or influential internal advocates.

The project contributes to theories of institutional transformation and to the study of race in international relations, identifying the conditions under which progress against global racial hierarchy is achieved.