Dissertation
Alliance and Cultural Affinity
- Committee: Sara McLaughlin Mitchell (Chair), Kelly M. Kadera, Brian Lai, Elizabeth Menninga, and Stephen Saideman
- This research aims to comprehend the influence of cultural affinity in military alliances. While prior studies on alliances have elucidated the effectiveness and longevity of alliances through power aggregation and sunk costs, they have rarely delved into the significance of cultural similarity. This study posits that culture plays a pivotal role in alliance duration and deterrence. The research argues that cultural affinity among allies enhances cooperation, diminishes the likelihood of conflicts, and nurtures mutual understanding. It delves into the ways in which shared culture impacts alliance durations at both the dyadic and alliance levels, as well as its effect on the deterrence capabilities of defense alliances.
Saera Lee & Addison Huygens & Sara McLaughlin Mitchell, Do Birds of a Feather Deter Better? Cultural Affinity and Alliance Deterrence, International Interactions [Forthcoming]
This study examines the impact of cultural affinity on deterrence of defensive alliances and we find as cultural affinity among defense alliance increases, potential challengers are less likely to initiate disputes.
Ready to Submit
Saera Lee, When Allies Leave an Alliance
This project examines the impact of cultural similarity on ally’s tendency to leave an alliance and I find that as dyadic cultural affinity of allies within an alliance is high, an ally is less likely to leave an alliance.
Saera Lee, The Future of AUKUS: The Role of Culture in Military Alliances
Can we predict the future of an alliance? In this research, I analyze the relationship between alliance duration and cultural affinity using mixed methods. Using AUKUS as an example, I demonstrate that alliances with high cultural affinity are less likely to be terminated.
Working Papers
Saera Lee, Rise of Pacta Sunt Servanda: The Systemic Norm of Alliance Termination
This research project argues that the norm of pacta sunt servanda (pacts made in good faith are binding) is established at a systemic level by alliances with high cultural affinity, leading to a decrease in alliance termination over time since 1950. The research finds that the average cultural affinity within alliances increases over time and this trend coincides with an increasing proportion of democratic states.
Saera Lee, Spreading the Norm: Copy and Paste in Alliance Treaties
How are norms spread between international organizations? In this project, I argue that the norm of pacta sunt servanda became a systemic norm for alliances because they copy and paste provisions from previous treaties. Using text analysis, I show how similar alliance treaties are and which provisions are most frequently copied.
Saera Lee & Bowon Kim, Evolution or Devolution? The Design of Nuclear Proliferation Treaties
In this project, we compile a new and comprehensive dataset on the nuclear proliferation treaties and analyze which institutional, procedural, and substantive provisions make signatories more likely to comply. Then, using text analysis, we examine whether non-proliferation treaties have evolved or not.
Saera Lee & Andrew Roberts, One Way Love: Reciprocity in Public Opinion
This paper analyzes public opinion toward countries. We find that public opinions on foreign countries are unstable, democracies and co-civilizationists tend to evaluate each other very favorably, and evaluations tend to be symmetric, but there are significant cases of unrequited love.
Research Interests
International Relations
International Conflict and Cooperation, International Alliances, International Organizations, Interstate Rivalries, Security Studies, East Asia.
Political Methodology
Introductory Statistics, Linear Regression, Times Series Analysis, Network Analysis, Mathematical Models, Text Analysis, Spatial Analysis, Duration analysis, Maximum Likelihood Estimation.
