The Rise and Fall of Nations in an Institutionalized World Order

• In Event: Reshaping the Liberal Order: Strategies of Contestation and Change

Abstract

International institutions are critical sources of power, influence, and prestige in the contemporary international system. Furthermore, they have exploded in number and complexity while emerging as key focal points for interstate contestation. Among other things, states that exert outsized control over international institutions can shape international rules and norms across diverse issue areas, directly or indirectly influence the behavior of other states, and distort policy outcomes in their favor. However, compared to other domains like security and economic relations – where there are widely available indicators of national power – we have a limited understanding of the overall status and evolution of relative power within the institutional order. Based on a new index of state influence in international organizations, we examine how the rise and fall of nations in the institutionalized order diverges from and interacts with other aspects of international relations. The analysis sheds new light on how contested multilateralism should be understood within the broader context of interstate contestation and competition in other domains.

Authors

• Taylor Jackson, University of Toronto

• Phillip Y. Lipscy, University of Toronto