This study explores how financial tools wielded by the United States through regional development banks influence voting alignment at the UN General Assembly.
Context & Key Question: Previous research focused on traditional US aid institutions like the World Bank and IMF, which were found to encourage developing states to align with Washington. But what about newer regional development banks (RDBs)?
Do these alternative financial tools also drive geopolitical alignment?
Methodology & Findings: Using tobit models, we analyzed voting patterns at UNGA across multiple US-sponsored IGOs.
The results reveal a crucial distinction: While traditional institutions push alignment, higher material capability among borrowing nations actually reduces their likelihood of supporting the U.S. in UN votes—except for loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Takeaway: This nuanced finding suggests that RDBs may create unique constraints on hegemonic influence at the UN.
Further research is needed to fully understand these institutions' geopolitical implications.
| The Limits of Collective Financial Statecraft: Regional Development Banks and Voting Alignment with the United States at the United Nations General Assembly was authored by Anastassia V Obydenkova and VinÃÂcius G Rodrigues Vieira. It was published by Oxford in ISQ in 2019. |
