International Institutions and Public Opinion Amid Global Fracture

Multilateralism is under strain, geopolitics dominates international debates, and unilateral action is proliferating. In this context, how can international institutions still shape political coalitions and diffuse norms? The paper deriving from this pre-registered report will test how international institutions affect public acceptance of unilateral trade-based climate measures through three governance functions: (1) providing legal precedents, (2) supplying information about policy impacts, and (3) monitoring implementation. We further distinguish whether monitoring and information provision operate through direct or indirect governance via non-state actors. We expect international institutions to still matter amid unilateralism, but their effects should be moderated by respondents’ geopolitical attitudes. We test these claims using forced-choice conjoint experiments with nationally quota-matched samples in Brazil, the United States, Germany, and India. A Brazilian pilot suggests that geopolitics can heighten the importance of international law and that non-state actors may help sustain the relevance of international institutions under fracture.

About the speaker

Rodrigo Fagundes Cezar is an assistant professor at the School of International Relations of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV RI). He holds a PhD in International Relations/Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a member of the advisory committee of the United Nations Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNFSS). His research interests focus on the fields of International Political Economy, International Institutions, and Transnational Governance. More specifically, his work investigates the determinants and effects of sustainable trade policies. His studies have been published in journals such as Global Environmental Politics, New Political Economy and Environmental Politics.