Networks of Intergovernmental Organizations and Convergence in Domestic Economic Policies

Abstract

We studied three potential causal mechanisms through which network dynamics of intergovernmental organizations (IGO) might cause con-vergence in domestic economic policies. First, IGO networks facilitate policy learning by providing relevant information. Second, they encour-age policy emulation by creating a sense of affinity among countries that are closely connected by IGO networks. Finally, some powerful IGOs ‘‘coerce’ ’ their member states to adopt certain policies. We used causal modeling to test the relationships between different types of IGOs (and the causal mechanisms to which they mostly correspond) and policy convergence. The findings demonstrate the important roles played by salient IGOs such as the WTO, the EU, and the OECD, with each of them having a strong converging effect on their member states’ domestic economic policies. More interestingly, we find that the cumu-lative effects of multiple layers of even the weakest types of IGOs have strong causal effects on states ’ domestic policies. Indeed, the shared