Center On International Cooperation Studies In Multilateralism

When should the United States cooperate with others in confronting global problems? Why is the U.S. often ambivalent about multilateral cooperation? What are the costs of acting alone? These are some of the timely questions addressed in this examination of the role of multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy. The authors isolate a number of factors that help to explain U.S. reluctance to commit to multilateral cooperation. They then analyze recent policy in specific areas--e.g., the use of force, peacekeeping, arms control, human rights, the United Nations, sanctions, international trade, environmental protection--probing the causes and consequences of U.S. decisions to act alone or opt out of multilateral initiatives. A concluding chapter underscores the point that increasingly pressing transnational problems may require the U.S. to reform its policymaking structures and to reconsider longstanding assumptions about national sovereignty and freedom of action.

The authors explore international reactions to U.S. conduct in world affairs.

Puzzled by the disjunction between global trends and US foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, mostly American scholars of political science, law, and economics explore the causes and consequences of US ambivalence to multilateral cooperation. They consider such dimensions as the growing influence of domestic factors, US grand strategy, the chemical weapons convention, and the International Criminal Court. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Trust in International Cooperation challenges conventional wisdoms concerning the part which trust plays in international cooperation and the origins of American multilateralism. Brian C. Rathbun questions rational institutionalist arguments, demonstrating that trust precedes rather than follows the creation of international organizations. Drawing on social psychology, he shows that individuals placed in the same structural circumstances show markedly different propensities to cooperate based on their beliefs about the trustworthiness of others. Linking this finding to political psychology, Rathbun explains why liberals generally pursue a more multilateral foreign policy than conservatives, evident in the Democratic Party's greater support for a genuinely multilateral League of Nations, United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Rathbun argues that the post-World War Two bipartisan consensus on multilateralism is a myth, and differences between the parties are growing continually starker.

Considers multilateralism and other approaches to international cooperation, identifying further areas for research into the issues of international relations.

When should the United States cooperate with others in confronting global problems? Why is the U.S. often ambivalent about multilateral cooperation? What are the costs of acting alone? These are some of the timely questions addressed in this examination of the role of multilateralism in U.S. foreign policy. The authors isolate a number of factors that help to explain U.S. reluctance to commit to multilateral cooperation. They then analyze recent policy in specific areas - e.g., the use of force, peace-keeping, arms control, human rights, the United Nations, sanctions, international trade, environmental protection - probing the causes and consequences of U.S. decisions to act alone or opt out of multilateral initiatives. A concluding chapter underscores the point that increasingly pressing transnational problems may require the U.S. to reform its policymaking structures and to reconsider longstanding assumptions about national sovereignty and freedom of action.

The Future of Multilateralism addresses current challenges and future perspectives of international and regional organizations. It aims to uncover how stable the foundations of global cooperation really are, particularly in the light of the latest unilateral and protectionist practices of international players and challenges related to COVID-19. The post–World War II global order was built on the foundations of multilateral cooperation. The establishment of international institutions is aimed at avoiding another widespread collision like the two World Wars and to ensure peace and prosperity. Hence, the multilateral system was viewed as an effective mechanism in dealing and resolving various challenges at an international or a regional level. Given the effects of COVID-19 on the global, regional, state, and individual levels are so recent, very little research has been conducted to understand the challenges many multilateral institutions are facing due to the pandemic. This book uncovers the future of such organizations and prospects for the multilateral system, of which they constitute the building blocks, in view of recent trends and developments.

The authors explore international reactions to U.S. conduct in world affairs.

Cooperating for Peace and Security attempts to understand - more than fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, seven years after 9/11, and in the aftermath of the failure of the United Nations (UN) reform initiative - the relationship between US security interests and the factors that drove the evolution of multilateral security arrangements from 1989 to the present. Chapters cover a range of topics - including the UN, US multilateral cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), nuclear nonproliferation, European and African security institutions, conflict mediation, counterterrorism initiatives, international justice and humanitarian cooperation - examining why certain changes have taken place and the factors that have driven them and evaluating whether they have led to a more effective international system and what this means for facing future challenges.