Democracy, Autocracy, and International Cooperation

One of the most consistent findings in the study of world politics is the positive relationship between democratic regimes and international cooperation. Yet events over the past decade suggest a more complicated picture.

Several democracies have withered in their support for international organizations, while autocracies simultaneously have stepped up their international commitments.

This project uses recent developments as a backdrop for re-examining the relationship between regime type and international cooperation.

It starts from the assumption that regime type and international cooperation are linked in more complex ways than the conventional linear prediction suggests.

Guided by the over-arching question of why, how, and under what conditions regime type affects international cooperation, this project offers the most systematic and comprehensive analysis so far of this relationship.

Theoretically, it breaks new ground by developing a framework for identifying how regime type may have varying effects on international cooperation.

Empirically, it is more encompassing than any previous study, examining this relationship over a longer time period and a broader range of international cooperation, based on novel data collection in collaboration with international partner groups.

Methodologically, it pursues an ambitious multi-method design, combining large-N statistical analysis and in-depth case studies in a complementary fashion and with a comparative orientation.