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Hello, goodbye: When do states withdraw from international organizations?

Author

Listed:
  • Inken Borzyskowski

    (Florida State University)

  • Felicity Vabulas

    (Pepperdine University)

Abstract

Under what conditions do states withdraw from intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)? Recent events such as Brexit, the US withdrawal from UNESCO, and US threats to withdraw from NAFTA, NATO, and the World Trade Organization have triggered widespread concern because they appear to signify a backlash against international organizations. Some observers attribute this recent surge to increasing nationalism. But does this explanation hold up as a more general explanation for IGO withdrawals across time and space? Despite many studies of why states join IGOs, we know surprisingly little about when and why states exit IGOs. We use research on IGO accession to derive potential explanations for IGO withdrawal related to domestic politics, IGO characteristics, and geo-politics. We quantitatively test these potential explanations for withdrawal using an original dataset of 493 IGOs since 1945, documenting about 200 cases of withdrawal. We find that nationalism is not the key driver of IGO withdrawals in the past. Instead, we show that geo-political factors – such as preference divergence and contagion – are the main factors linked to IGO withdrawals, followed by democracy levels in the country and organization. These findings have important implications for research on the vitality of international organizations, compliance, and the liberal world order.

Suggested Citation

  • Inken Borzyskowski & Felicity Vabulas, 2019. "Hello, goodbye: When do states withdraw from international organizations?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 335-366, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:14:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11558-019-09352-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-019-09352-2
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    Cited by:

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    5. Seung-Whan Choi, 2022. "Nationalism and withdrawals from intergovernmental organizations: Connecting theory and data," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 205-215, January.
    6. Steffen Eckhard & Vytautas Jankauskas & Elena Leuschner & Ian Burton & Tilman Kerl & Rita Sevastjanova, 2023. "The performance of international organizations: a new measure and dataset based on computational text analysis of evaluation reports," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 753-776, October.
    7. Ryan Brutger & Richard Clark, 2023. "At what cost? Power, payments, and public support of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 431-465, July.
    8. Čiderová Denisa & Kovačević Dubravka & Čerňák Jozef, 2019. "The Brexitologic of Competitiveness," Studia Commercialia Bratislavensia, Sciendo, vol. 12(42), pages 147-171, December.
    9. Jessica C. Liao, 2021. "The Club‐based Climate Regime and OECD Negotiations on Restricting Coal‐fired Power Export Finance," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(1), pages 40-50, February.
    10. Zürn, Michael & Tokhi, Alexandros & Binder, Martin, 2021. "The International Authority Database," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442.
    11. Jon CW Pevehouse & Timothy Nordstrom & Roseanne W McManus & Anne Spencer Jamison, 2020. "Tracking organizations in the world: The Correlates of War IGO Version 3.0 datasets," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(3), pages 492-503, May.
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    13. Maria J. Debre & Hylke Dijkstra, 2023. "Are international organisations in decline? An absolute and relative perspective on institutional change," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(1), pages 16-30, February.

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