Files and links (1)
Free to read and download, Open Access
Conference paper
Cooperation in World Politics: The Constraining and Constitutive Effects of International Organizations
International Studies Association Meeting, 2006 (San Diego, California)
2006
DOI: 10.17077/k1b9-eyj1
Abstract
Many scholars accept the important role international organizations (IOs) play in facilitating cooperation among states in world politics, yet there is disagreement about the theoretical mechanisms that best account for the positive correlation between shared IO memberships and cooperation. Institutionalists and Rationalists treat state preferences as fixed and emphasize the influence of IO memberships on interstate bargaining. In this view, IOs act as constraints, because while they help states negotiate more efficiently (with fewer costs & greater information), they do not significantly alter states’ preferences. Constructivists, on the other hand, recognize that organizations can alter member states’ identities and interests, and that long and deep commitments to international organizations can have constitutive effects on member states’ preferences and behavior. In this paper, I derive several hypotheses about the constraining and constitutive effects of IOs on member state behavior from existing theoretical arguments in the IR literature and evaluate these claims empirically using data on contentious issues from the Issue Correlates of War Project. Empirical analyses show that while shared IO memberships (frequency and duration) neither prevent the onset of new contentious issues nor promote more frequent peaceful settlement attempts, they do decrease the use of militarized force and produce more successful negotiation attempts. Disputants are much more likely to reach and comply with agreements to end contentious issue claims when they share more frequent and durable memberships in international organizations.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Cooperation in World Politics: The Constraining and Constitutive Effects of International Organizations
- Creators
- Sara McLaughlin Mitchell - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Conference paper
- Conference
- International Studies Association Meeting, 2006 (San Diego, California)
- DOI
- 10.17077/k1b9-eyj1
- Number of pages
- 30 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2006 Sara Mitchell
- Comment
- This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2006 International Studies Association meeting in San Diego, California and for presentation at the Intergovernmental Organizations in Action conference, La Jolla, California, March 26-27, 2006.
- Language
- English
- Date copyrighted
- 2006
- Date presented
- 03/2006
- Academic Unit
- Political Science; Public Policy Center (Archive); Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9983557683802771
Metrics
6730 File views/ downloads
300 Record Views