Trade and alignment in decisions in multilateral organizations: a study of the voting patterns at the UN General Assembly

Author(s)

Umberto Guarnier Mignozzetti

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2014-03-21

Examining board members

Amâncio Jorge Silva Nunes de Oliveira; Cristiane de Andrade Lucena Carneiro; Janina Onuki; Adriana Schor; Cesar Zucco Junior

• Advisor: Amâncio Jorge Silva Nunes de Oliveira

Abstract

This thesis explore the effect of trade interdependence over the countries alignments in the United Nations General Assembly. Using the instrumental variables approach, for a data set ranging from 1946 to 2012, we show that the more trade interdependence in time t the lower the countries alignment in t + 1. These results are counter intuitive, as most of the International Political Economy literature relates trade interdependence and cooperation positively. This work shows that this negative relation is robust to diverse specifications and becomes more consistent when the reverse causality is controlled. Finally, the discussion emphasizes that trade gains empower countries in the international arenas (AU)