Exit from International Organizations

By Inken Von Borzyskowski and Felicity Vabulas

Why do states exit international organizations (IOs)? How often does exit from IOs - including voluntary withdrawal and forced suspension - occur? What are the effects of leaving IOs for the exiting state? Despite the importance of membership in IOs, a broader understanding of exit across states, organizations, and time has been limited. Exit from International Organizations addresses these lacunae through a theoretically grounded and empirically systematic study of IO exit. Von Borzyskowski and Vabulas argue that there is a common logic to IO exit which helps explain both its causes and consequences. By examining IO exit across 198 states, 534 IOs, and over a hundred years of history, they show that exit is driven by states' dissatisfaction, preference divergence, and is a strategy to negotiate institutional change. The book also demonstrates that exit is costly because it has reputational consequences for leaving states and significantly affects other forms of international cooperation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1009532324
• ISBN13: 9781009532327
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 412 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"