Professor Brian C. Rathbun

Brian C. Rathbun, University of Southern California Brian C. Rathbun is an Associate Professor in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Partisan Interventions: European Party Politics and Peace Enforcement in the Balkans (2004) as well as articles in International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Security Studies and the European Journal of International Relations among others. Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/trust-international-cooperation-international-security-institutions-domestic-politics-and-american-multilateralism#X572B04MxBM3DbV3.99

Trust in International Cooperation challenges conventional wisdoms concerning the part which trust plays in international cooperation and the origins of American multilateralism. Brian C. Rathbun questions rational institutionalist arguments, demonstrating that trust precedes rather than follows the creation of international organizations. Drawing on social psychology, he shows that individuals placed in the same structural circumstances show markedly different propensities to cooperate based on their beliefs about the trustworthiness of others. Linking this finding to political psychology, Rathbun explains why liberals generally pursue a more multilateral foreign policy than conservatives, evident in the Democratic Party's greater support for a genuinely multilateral League of Nations, United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Rathbun argues that the post-World War Two bipartisan consensus on multilateralism is a myth, and differences between the parties are growing continually starker. Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/trust-international-cooperation-international-security-institutions-domestic-politics-and-american-multilateralism#X572B04MxBM3DbV3.99