Seminar:
Everything Old is New Again: Textual Recycling in UN Resolutions - Sabrina Arias (Lehigh University)
14:00-15:00 (GMT) Wednesday, November 12.
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Abstract: Why do negotiators recycle previous texts in the drafting of legal documents in international organizations? I engage with theories of international lawmaking to understand how the unique context of IOs leads to different expectations of textual recycling compared to previously studied contexts, primarily treaty negotiations. I argue that textual recycling is an efficiency-enhancing strategy which negotiators are particularly likely to use when confronted by demanding policy agendas and when addressing low-salience issues. To assess this theory, I deploy a machine learning approach to measure textual recycling across all UN resolutions passed from 1946-2018. In line with my expectations, I find that rates of textual recycling are higher in the UNGA—which has an extensive agenda—than the UNSC—which has a narrower agenda. I further find that recycling is more likely to be used within chambers compared to across chambers, and on lower salience issues than on security matters. These findings suggest that negotiators weigh the benefits of efficiency against the importance of specificity when choosing to recycle texts.
About the speaker(s): Sabrina Arias is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University. Her research focuses on international organizations, diplomacy, and climate politics, with a particular focus on agenda-setting in IOs. Her research is published or forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, International Studies Quarterly, the Review of International Organizations, and the Journal of Peace Research. She was previously a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs from 2023-2024. She received her PhD in Political Science in 2023 from the University of Pennsylvania.