Western Democracies in the Un - Who Gets Elected and Why - A Quantitative Examination of Elections to United Nations Councils and Committees (Paperback)

This dissertation examines the question of States' power through an innovative quantitative methodology. The performance of 21 Western States in various competitive elections in the United Nations is compared statistically during the period of 1990-2006, in order to assess the predictive quality of the different international relations theories of neorealism, institutionalism, and liberalism. The resulting panel regression analysis finds that a neorealist factor variable - attributable to military, economic, and diplomatic power - is best at explaining the observed variance. Incumbency is also shown to have a substantial role. These results will be of value both to practitioners and researchers interested in electoral politics. Dissertation