International Identity, Legal Obligation, and Compliance in World Politics

HOW INTERNATIONAL LAW OBLIGATES: INTERNATIONAL IDENTITY, LEGAL OBLIGATION, AND COMPLIANCE IN WORLD POLITICS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ayten Burcu Bayram, B.A./M.IS./M.A. Graduate Program in Political Science The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Richard Herrmann, Advisor Alexander Wendt Alexander Thompson ©Copyright Ayten Burcu Bayram All Rights Reserved 2011 ABSTRACT All political leaders represent the political authority of the state and are committed to state sovereignty. Yet some are also moved by a sense of perceived international legal obligation and defer to international legal rules and institutions. Why do some politicians develop a sense of legal obligation and defer to international law while others do not? This dissertation seeks to explain the psychological logic of legal obligation. Legal obligation entails a tension between commitment to the sovereign authority of the state and deference to international law, and imposes psychological “sovereignty costs” upon politicians. I explain the psychological logic of legal obligation by analyzing the effect of international superordinate identification on the resolution of this tension. My central claim is that political leaders’ degree of international identification critically shapes their sense of legal obligation by affecting the perceived legitimacy of international law’s authority. I argue that international identification, through the causal mechanism of reference group membership, prompts politicians to re-conceptualize their countries as members of the international community rather than view statehood separate from membership in the society of states. International identification helps actors assimilate state-concept into the prototype of international community member, shift their understandings of the state’s legitimate duties to the international level, and associate sovereignty with recognized member status rather than with supreme decision- making authority. As a result of these transformations, international identification ii increases the perceived legitimacy of international law’s authority, influences how politicians process the psychological “sovereignty costs” involved in legal obligation, and thus conditions actors’ ability to reconcile commitment to sovereignty with deference to international law. Therefore, I argue that the variation in individual levels of legal obligation is created by the strength of international identification. High international identifiers view deference to international law as a responsibility of membership in the international community, and thus could balance sovereignty with deference with relative ease, leading them to form a strong sense of legal obligation. Low international identifiers perceive deference as loss of sovereign capacity, and thus lack a viable sense of legal obligation. I also analyze the relationship between legal obligation and compliance. I posit that a strong sense of legal obligation strengthens politicians’ compliance resolve by acting as a self-imposed constraint and by heightening their sensitivity to social pressure to uphold international law. Therefore, legal obligation increases an actor’s propensity to favor compliance even when compliance is costly. Employing survey and experimental methods, I test for the effect of international identification on the degree of legal obligation as well as examine the direct influence of legal obligation on compliance preferences. I evaluate my hypotheses both in the context of European Union law and international law. Using data from an original survey of German Parliamentarians and laboratory experiments, and employing quantitative methods of analysis, I find a systematic relationship between international identification and legal obligation strength. I further discover that a strong sense of legal obligation raises the threshold of compliance cost tolerance and increases compliance resolve. iii To My Family & For KaroŞ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing my dissertation has been a real learning experience. I learned a lot about scholarship, good research, and about myself. I am grateful for the advice and support of many individuals who helped me go through this experience and contributed to my professional and personal growth. I owe a lot to my committee. Rick Herrmann, my advisor, stood by me through all the ups and downs and supported me from the time I arrived at Ohio State until the completion of this project. He always offered insightful comments and helped me improve my work. By allowing me to engage his work, he showed me how to combine rigor with innovation. But Rick also challenged me a great deal and pushed me to think harder. His critical eye made me a resilient scholar. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and guidance of Alex Wendt. He believed in me when I had trouble believing in myself. He played a crucial role in the early stages of this project and helped me get out my pre-prospectus blues. I will never forget that he met with me four times in two weeks before the prospectus meeting. Alex’s encouragement was also present in the later stages of this project. He always masterfully combined encouragement with constructive criticism. It is also thanks to Alex that I broadened my intellectual horizons I am very grateful to Alex Thompson for providing invaluable guidance and incredibly helpful comments. Alex had been very patient with my work and helped me learn how be patient with it myself. He pushed me to reach higher standards of v scholarship while maintaining a positive attitude. I learned a lot about good scholarship and professionalism from Alex, and I am still learning. He is a great professional role model, and working with him has been a privilege. Many thanks should also go to individual faculty members at my department for providing a vibrant academic environment and supporting us graduate students in our first steps towards scholarly independence. I especially thank Sonja Amadae, Larry Baum, Kathleen McGraw, Jennifer Mitzen, Randy Schweller, Daniel Verdier, Herb Weisberg, and Jack Wright for encouraging me. I am also grateful to my department, the Mershon Center, and to the Graduate School for providing financial and research support. I am fortunate to have had wonderful graduate student colleagues. Rachel McGuire and Banks Miller had been my friends for a long time and sometimes gave me a home away from home. I owe a lot to Rachel for listening to me and for “going outside” with me whenever I needed it. I am glad I got a chance to observe Banks’ professionalism. Rebecca Moore, Seth Goldstein, Eric Grynaviski, and Tim Luecke had always been wonderful comrades. John Oates, Clement Wyplosz, and Erin Graham had been a joy to talk to whether the subject was work, our shared professional struggles, or minutia that helped us take a break. I thank Matt Scherbarth for our “political science talks” throughout the two years we were neighbors. Special thanks goes to Dane Imerman for being a good colleague and helping me put things in perspective. I am also indebted to many individuals who played important roles in my life during my graduate career. I owe a lot to Casey for keeping me “sane” and helping me change the way I look at things. He showed me the art of “thinking strong.” Casey probably does not know this, but he had been my rock. vi David had been an amazing friend and a good influence on me. He encouraged me to appreciate life no matter what was happening on “the dissertation front.” Ilhami’s “writing music” came in very handy during 5 am writing sessions. Cem’s e- mails motivated me to write better and more efficiently. Clifford Griffin, a professor at North Carolina State University, believed in my intellectual skills and had been a great mentor. Zeynep’s friendship may be the most important personal gain of my masters years. She became the sister I never had. I am very lucky to have met Jack. He inspires me and contributes to my intellectual life just by being himself. If there is always tomorrow for our friendship, I look forward to many tomorrows. My greatest debts are to my family members who loved and supported me unconditionally. Whenever I looked in my father’s eyes, I found peace and the strength to carry on. My father Nedim always believed in me and encouraged me to focus on my education. Aysegul, my mother, had been my lighthouse and karmic friend throughout my academic life. My grandmother Sevim gave me the survival skills that brought me thus far. Ali, my granddad, showed me the importance of hard work and courage. When I was growing up, Nilgun taught me how to think for myself. When I was writing my dissertation, she encouraged me to use this quality even when I was frustrated. Citir showed me that distance does not matter when it comes to love. I could not have accomplished much in life without my family. Finally, I owe a lot to Karos. He was there for me no matter what. From Ankara to Europe to the U.S., Karos had been my companion. This dissertation is dedicated to Karos and to “my people,” with great appreciation. vii VITA 1979 ..............................................................Born in Ankara 2002 ..............................................................B.A. in International Relations, Middle East Technical University 2004...............................................................M.A. in International Studies, North Carolina State

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