We live in a world of inequalities. Every day, people are born to intensely degrading realities that curb their opportunities of success and perpetrate a vicious cycle of poverty. "The Role of Institutions: Devising Mechanisms for an Inclusive World" explores how the institutional framework contributes to the maintenance or reduction of such inequalities, analyzing the impacts – both positive and negative – of existing institutions in specific scenarios. Each of the eight articles approaches a pressing theme of the international agenda – including rule of law; fiscal responsibility; health conditions in refugees' camps; disaster risk management; labor standards; gender-based structural violence; nuclear weapons control; and state failure –, analyzing the role institutions play on the definition of the fate of countries and their citizens.