The Relevance of Culture in UN Voting Behavior

One of the most controversial paradigms ever suggested within international relations is ‘the clash of civilizations-thesis’ claiming that the nature of world politics has changed dramatically with the end of the Cold War. Rather than ideological or economic differences, cultural dissimilarities- within and between countries, form the pattern of conflict in the post-Cold War era. This study tests the validity of Huntington’s claims by examining the relationship between civilizations and UN voting behaviour 1979-96. The findings suggest that there are some changes going on, in the sense that rising powers such as China and other Confucianist states, and to some extent also Islamic countries seem to occupy a pole against the Western allies. This purposes partial support to Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’-thesis. However, the overall pattern of the voting behaviour within the United Nations General Assembly is not one of civilizational clashes, whether during or after the Cold War. Rather, political and economic factors seem to be more important in predicting the voting pattern of states, and much of the traditional East-West dimension of the Cold War is still evident.