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Rev Int Organ (2015) 10:413437
DOI 10.1007/s11558-014-9207-3
Raphael N. Becker & Arye L. Hillman & Niklas Potrafke &
Alexander H. Schwemmer
Published online: 25 December 2014# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract 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.
Keywords UnitedNationsGeneralAssemblyvoting.Expressivevoting.Decoyvoting. Focal point . Logrolling . Discrimination . Prejudice . Political culture
JEL Classifications F51 . F53 . D72 . D78
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11558-014-9207-3
Web End =10.1007/s11558-014-9207- 3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
R. N. Becker
Department of Economics, University of Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
A. L. Hillman
Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel e-mail: [email protected]
N. Potrafke (*) : A. H. Schwemmer
Ifo Institute, University of Munich, Poschingerstr. 5, 81679 Munich, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
A. H. Schwemmere-mail: [email protected]
The preoccupation of the United Nations with Israel: Evidence and theory
414 R.N. Becker et al.
1 Introduction
Between January 1990 and June 2013, there were 1676 resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly on which votes were taken.1 Of these resolutions, 744 did not relate to a particular country, 932 mentioned a country, 646 criticized a country, and 272 praised a country. Table 1 shows the distribution of the resolutions by country (the most prominently appearing 26 countries).2
There are 480 resolutions in Table 1 involving Israel, either directly or in relation to neighboring countries and populations. Of the resolutions in which Israel is involved, 422 or 88 % criticize Israel, either explicitly or implicitly. Criticisms are varied and include accusations of human rights violations,...