Work

Soft vs. hard power impact on UN voting on Ukraine

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We analyse the importance of a wide range of factors influencing the voting behaviour ofcountries in favour of Russia in the UN resolution (A/RES/ES-11/61) on March 2 2023. We groupfactors into ‘economic influence’, ‘defence cooperation’ and ‘soft power’, besides the standardcountry-level control variables, and formulate hypotheses on their expected impact according toextant theory and evidence. We include economic, political and military ties with Russia and China(as a major supporter of Russia) in a multivariate regression analysis. Our results show Russia’s hardpower at work: the probability of voting in favour of Russia was significantly higher for countriesreceiving Russian aid, Russian foreign direct investment, arms imports and defence cooperation fromRussia. At the same time, China’s soft power also exerted considerable influence on voting patterns,to the extent that Belt and Road Initiative participation and Global South significantly increased theprobability of voting in favour of Russia.

Source: Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17288383

Author: AMIGHINI, Alessia

Institutions: Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”, Institute for International Political Studies

Language: English

Topic: International Relations and Foreign Policy

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7084871092

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