What is the name of the book and what are its coordinates?

The book is Exit from International Organizations: Costly Negotiation for Institutional Change. It was published in June 2025 by Cambridge University Press.

What’s the argument?

Governments leave international organizations — such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) or the World Health Organization (WHO) — in two ways. Some “take their toys and go home,” withdrawing from the organization in response to some kind of dispute about its policies or governance. Others are shoved out the door, suspended or kicked out, by other member states. Some see these “exits” as evidence of the terminal decline of international organizations. But they usually reflect hardball bargaining tactics over the behavior of states, international organizations, or both. Exit is costly, both for remaining member states and those that leave.

Why should we care?

We’ve seen a lot of high-profile exits from international organizations (IOs) over the last fifteen years. Russia got kicked out of a number of IOs after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Britain’s departure the European Union (EU) continues to reverberate in British and European politics. 

Our book corrects a number of common misconceptions that arise when observers only look at recent exits. Our historical analysis (up til 2022) shows that IO exits are infrequent and often temporary rather than terminal. If past pattern holds, we should expect most threats do not lead to actual exits; and most exiting states to rejoin, or gain readmission, in the future. As we already suggested, exits don’t necessarily mean that IOs are becoming weaker and less relevant. If anything, exits may suggest their strength and importance. States wouldn’t use exit as a bargaining tactic unless it imposed costs — both for the remaining members and those newly on the outside.  

Why will we find the article (or book) persuasive?

We engage in systematic statistical study of original data on IO exit across 198 states, 534 IOs, and more than 100 years of history. We combine this analysis with six case studies, based in large part on fieldwork and extensive interviews of policymakers. Along the way, we chronicle the many different costs that states experience from IO exit, from higher perceived political risk in international markets to loss of influence in international organizations.

Why did you decide to write it in the first place?

When we first met in 2011, the Arab Spring was underway, and the Arab League had just suspended Libya and Syria for their violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters. We both found this surprising.  The Arab League is dominated by autocratic governments, including ones that had used violence to suppress their own protestors. This got us thinking about the broader dynamics of IO exit. This book is, at least for now, the ultimate result.

What would you most like to change about the piece, and why?

We focused on the incentives — the costs and benefits — that drive states to leave, or kick other states out of, international organizations. We wish that we had time and space to tackle the implications of IOs themselves: to examine how exit affects the legitimacy of IOs, how IOs adapt to state exist, and what this all means for the broader landscape of global governance. Alas, that is the stuff, as we say, of “future research.” 

In addition, after more than a decade of research, our book was published during a time of geopolitical upheaval. The Trump administration has been shedding international agreements and institutions like a Siberian Husky sheds fur in a Florida summer.  Multilateralism is under threat in many ways. We discuss various reasons why future IO exits may differ from historical patterns, but only time will tell how things emerge.

How much difficulty did you have getting the piece accepted?

We were lucky to work with a terrific editor, John Haslam, at Cambridge University Press. It was not difficult to get the book accepted, but it was (like any book) a long process. The press experienced a cyber breach just after we submitted our manuscript, which delayed publication.  

Editor’s Note: Exit from International Organizations was just awarded the 2026 Chadwick Alger prize for best book in international organizations from the International Studies Association.