The rapidly developing new mechanisms of international cooperation against cross-border crime represent a critical turning point in the development of the world legal order, and they carry significant cultural and political ramifications for the peoples of the world. International structures of cooperation are creating a universal system in a pluralistic world. At a minimum, there will be serious differences among states as well as ethnic and other groups regarding policies and practices of these new structures of power. If this new system is to respect the values of democracy and the rule of law, checks must be built into it. An ongoing program of research and evaluation is one of the crucial checks that should be used. It can serve not only the narrower operational objectives of improving line procedures but also the vital democratizing function of making the system visible and thus open to the kind of assessment and debate needed in a pluralistic word. Although a discussion of the panoply of research needs is beyond the scope of this paper, it offers some observations on basic data needs, types of research designs, and selected focal issues. 11 notes and 11 references