The preoccupation of the United Nations with Israel: Evidence and theory

We compiled data on all United Nations General Assembly resolutions on which voting took place between January 1990 and June 2013 and find a preoccupation with one country: in 65 % of instances in which a country is criticized in a resolution, the country is Israel, with no other country criticized...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReview of International Organizations Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 413 - 437
Main Authors Becker, Raphael N., Hillman, Arye L., Potrafke, Niklas, Schwemmer, Alexander H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.12.2015
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Antisemitism
Autocracy
Criteria
Criticism
Discrimination
Economics
International organizations
Jewish people
Manycountries
Palestinian people
Political behavior
Political culture
Political economy
Political Science
Prejudice
Quantitative analysis
Social Sciences
Studies
Voting
Israel
United Nations General Assembly voting
Focal point
Political culture
Expressive voting
Discrimination
F51
D78
F53
Logrolling
Decoy voting
Prejudice
D72
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Summary:We compiled data on all United Nations General Assembly resolutions on which voting took place between January 1990 and June 2013 and find a preoccupation with one country: in 65 % of instances in which a country is criticized in a resolution, the country is Israel, with no other country criticized in more than 10 % of resolutions. We use comparative quantitative criteria to confirm that Israel is subject to discrimination. To explain the motives for discrimination, we present a model of behavioral political economy that includes decoy voting, vanity of autocrats, and a Schelling focal point for deflection of criticism. The model includes a role for traditional prejudice. Our conclusions more generally concern political culture in the United Nations.
ISSN:1559-7431
1559-744X
DOI:10.1007/s11558-014-9207-3