Journal
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
Volume 75, Issue 2, Pages 306-332Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0020818320000491
Keywords
international institutions; public opinion; politicization; European integration; political entrepreneurs; referendums
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Funding
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [817582]
- European Research Council (ERC) [817582] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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This article discusses the nature, impact, and conditions of the politicization of international cooperation, highlighting that politicization can both stabilize and destabilize international cooperation. While international organizations may face challenges, they also demonstrate remarkable resilience.
International institutions are increasingly being challenged by domestic opposition and nationalist political forces. Yet, levels of politicization differ significantly across countries facing the same international authority as well as within countries over time. This raises the question of when and why the mass public poses a challenge to international cooperation. In this article, we develop a theoretical framework for understanding the nature and implications of politicization of international cooperation, outlining three scope conditions: the nature of public contestation, the activities of political entrepreneurs, and the permissiveness of political opportunity structures. By empirically examining these scope conditions, we demonstrate that politicization can have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects on international cooperation. Highlighting the systemic implications of politicization for international cooperation has important implications for international relations scholarship. Although international organizations may face challenges, they also have ways of being remarkably resilient.
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