This study uses network analysis of UN General Assembly voting patterns from 1990 to 2019 to identify informal geopolitical alliances. It finds that voting alignment extends well beyond formal institutions like NATO and BRICS, revealing a deeply divided multipolar order.
This study uses United Nations voting data and network analysis to understand how countries align with one another. It identifies three major voting communities and shows how powerful states lead their groups, while countries such as India and Egypt connect different blocs. The findings highlight a more flexible, multipolar world.
The study examines how changing UN voting patterns reveal the emergence of flexible, issue-based diplomatic alignments in an increasingly multipolar world. Focusing on the growing diplomatic agency of the Global South, it uses social network theory, neorealism, and constructivism to understand patterns of voting cohesion, coalition formation, and evolving international partnerships. The study argues that contemporary alliances are increasingly shaped by shared interests and common challenges rather than rigid ideological or military blocs, highlighting the Global South’s growing role in shaping global governance.
This study applies Louvain community detection to UN General Assembly voting data (2020 to 2023), showing how the Russia Ukraine War reduced overall voting cohesion while strengthening the US/NATO bloc relative to Russia China. It examines how alliances, regional organizations, and foreign aid shape alignment, finding aid origin matters more than aid amount, and India remains aligned with Russia China despite Quad membership.
Using data from 267 countries between 1960 and 2024, this study finds that trade openness and economic growth are not closely linked. However, trade agreements and volumes significantly reduce economic volatility, supporting sustainable long-term development.
Every crisis produces the same headline: the Global South has picked a side. A
decade of UN voting data says otherwise. The blocs reassemble with every issue.
Even the G4, four states with one ambition, does not vote as one.
U.S. retrenchment from multilateral institutions between 2017–2021 exposed critical vulnerabilities in the SDG framework, disrupting climate finance, global health, and development aid. While the EU, China, and Global South actors partially filled the gap, hegemonic absence remains costly and disproportionately burdens the world’s most vulnerable nations.
Analysing 738,764 votes across 70 UNGA sessions from 1946 to 2025, this study reveals that the expansion of non-Western membership has fundamentally transformed voting dynamics within the General Assembly, signalling a measurable shift toward a multipolar international order.
This study introduces Latent Alignment Theory (LAT), a theoretical framework that conceptualizes voting behavior within the United Nations General Assembly as an observable signal of underlying preference convergence among states. Through the application of network community detection and ideal point estimation, the study constructs the Latent Alignment Readiness Index (LARI) to systematically identify and forecast which geopolitical alignments are most likely to progress toward formal institutionalization, thereby addressing a persistent gap in the alliance formation literature.
This study employs a longitudinal comparative method (2018–2024) to examine if India, supported by South Korean partnerships, can diversify ASEAN’s electronics and telecom supply chains away from China, revealing selective competitive advantages despite persistent Chinese regional dominance.