Trust in International Cooperation: International Security Institutions, Domestic Politics and American Multilateralism (Cambridge Studies in International Relations)
Cambridge University Press, 12/1/2011
EAN 9781107014718, ISBN10: 1107014719
Hardcover, 280 pages, 23.6 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
Trust in International Cooperation challenges conventional wisdoms concerning the part which trust plays in international cooperation and the origins of American multilateralism. Brian C. Rathbun questions rational institutionalist arguments, demonstrating that trust precedes rather than follows the creation of international organizations. Drawing on social psychology, he shows that individuals placed in the same structural circumstances show markedly different propensities to cooperate based on their beliefs about the trustworthiness of others. Linking this finding to political psychology, Rathbun explains why liberals generally pursue a more multilateral foreign policy than conservatives, evident in the Democratic Party's greater support for a genuinely multilateral League of Nations, United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Rathbun argues that the post-World War Two bipartisan consensus on multilateralism is a myth, and differences between the parties are growing continually starker.
1. Circles of trust
reciprocity, community and multilateralism
2. Anarchical social capital
a social psychological theory of trust, international cooperation and institutional design
3. The open circle
the failure of the League of Nations
4. Squaring the circle
the birth of the United Nations
5. Closing the circle
the negotiation of the North Atlantic Treaty
6. Coming full circle
fear, terrorism and the future of American multilateralism.
Advance praise: 'The role for 'trust' in world politics is often denied, taken for granted, or simply overlooked. This book asks excellent questions about how, when, and why states trust each other - and when they don't. Paying close attention to both domestic politics and international relations, Rathbun covers the most important cases of negotiating world order in the [twentieth] century and shows the important contribution of trust in all of them, often in counter-intuitive ways. It opens a door between history, psychology, and foreign policy that should never have been closed in the first place.' Ian Hurd, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University