This paper analyzes electoral cycles in distributional bargaining in the European Union. I argue that governments attempt to increase their EU membership benefits above average levels in the pre-election period hoping to appear politically competent to their voters. The theory discusses when and...

Powerful states often accept unanimity voting on accession to international institutions, even though this enables weak states to blackmail powerful states into providing costly side payments. Whereas the literature attributes this choice mainly to efforts to bolster the legitimacy of...

This paper analyzes how opportunistic governments choose between alternative fiscal policies in order to increases their chances of re-election. To increase the provision of public goods shortly before elections – and thus, to generate a fiscal political business cycles – governments may...

We analyze institutional solutions to international cooperation when collective action creates negative externalities and splits the actors into supporters and opponents, all of whom can spend resources toward their preferred outcome. We study how actors can communicate their preferences through...

Powerful states often accept unanimity voting on accession to international institutions, even though this enables weak states to blackmail powerful states into providing costly side payments. Whereas the literature attributes this choice mainly to efforts to bolster the legitimacy of...

Partisanship is a fundamental feature of democratic politics, but the effect of states’ partisan preferences on international cooperation remains poorly understood. This paper analyzes the relationship between partisan heterogeneity and cooperation in the European Union (EU). We argue that...

This article reviews and analyzes recent research on regional integration. The review is structured along a political economy framework and proceeds in three steps. After analyzing the development of regional integration agreements (RIAs) from a historical perspective, I first discuss regional...