Overlapping Ties in Diplomatic Networks: Embassies and IGOs

• In Event: Collaboration Networks in International Politics

Abstract

States maintain institutional, routinized contact with each other through two channels: intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and residential embassies. As relational ties that transfer information among states, both channels serve similar purposes. The global network of embassies and IGO memberships are structurally different in key aspects, however. I employ Markov chain models of co-evolutionary networks to test how these two distinct networks exert influence upon each other. These models demonstrate that the presence or an absence of a tie in one network affects the other: countries with one type of connection (either an embassy or a significant number of shared IGOs) are more likely to develop the other type too. Additionally, establishing both types of connections (shared IGOs and embassies) between countries reduces the chances that either type of tie disappears, thus reinforcing the connection. This model contrasts with previous findings that IGOs and embassies may be “redundant” connections, where states abandon direct embassies when IGO ties are sufficient to maintain contact. Co-evolutionary network models indicate that IGOs do not replace resident embassies in the realm of diplomacy, but strengthen the existing bilateral tie.

Author

• Michael Christopher McCall, Syracuse University