This chapter argues that the prevalent way for theorizing international organizations cannot properly account for the conceptual relationship between these institutions and states. At closer inspection, the popular treaty/contract versus subject/constitution frameworks for looking at international organizations address only the structural relationship between these institutions and their members. Nevertheless, one cannot simply assume that international organizations count as states for legal purposes just because they enjoy a legal personality that is distinct from their members, or because they share some relevant similarity with them. Equally important problems arise with analysing international organizations as merely another name for their member states acting together, and thus reducing the former to the latter. This view tends to disregard the fact that international organizations are often membered by entities that are neither states nor international organizations. Followed consistently, it also undermines the supposed distinct legal existence of these institutions.