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Popular non-support for international organizations: How extensive and what does this represent?

Author

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  • David H. Bearce

    (University of Colorado at Boulder)

  • Brandy J. Jolliff Scott

    (Texas Christian University)

Abstract

This paper investigates popular non-support for international organizations (IO), asking two questions. First, are attitudes within the mass public becoming less supportive of IOs? Second, how can we explain these IO attitudes, especially when the mass public appears to know relatively little about specific international institutions? Using survey data from the International Social Survey Programme’s National Identity module, fielded across multiple countries in 1995, 2003, and 2013, it reports that on average and within most countries, citizen attitudes about IOs have become less positive over time. To explain these attitudes, this paper argues that citizens tend to group things that appear as “international” such as cross-border economic flows and IOs. While citizens might feel positively or negatively about these international factors, this grouping implies that they view them similarly, based on what they can feel from the international level related to their job and income. Thus, less (more) skilled citizens who are hurt by (who benefit from) economic globalization should express more negative (positive) views about IOs. Controlling for cultural attitudes socialized through education, we find that skill is a statistically significant and substantively strong predictor of IO attitudes. We also show how this individual-level skill difference gets larger in countries that are more and/or less-favorably exposed to economic globalization.

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Bearce & Brandy J. Jolliff Scott, 2019. "Popular non-support for international organizations: How extensive and what does this represent?," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 187-216, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revint:v:14:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11558-019-09351-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11558-019-09351-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Zürn & Alexandros Tokhi & Martin Binder, 2021. "The International Authority Database," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 12(4), pages 430-442, September.
    2. Yoram Z. Haftel & Bar Nadel, 2024. "Economic crises and the survival of international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 665-690, October.
    3. Nikitas Konstantinidis & Konstantinos Matakos & Hande Mutlu-Eren, 2019. "“Take back control”? The effects of supranational integration on party-system polarization," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 297-333, June.
    4. Inken Borzyskowski & Felicity Vabulas, 2024. "Public support for withdrawal from international organizations: Experimental evidence from the US," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 809-845, October.

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    Keywords

    IO attitudes; Economic skill;

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