Exit from International Organizations

WDB Lecture Series

Felicity Vabulas

“Exit from International Organizations”
Dr. Felicity Vabulas
Wednesday September 10, 2025
Noon Surfboard Room | Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries

Dr. Felicity Vabulas is the Blanche E. Seaver Associate Professor of International Studies at Pepperdine University. Vabulas' research focuses on the political economy of international cooperation. She recently coauthored Exit from International Organizations, which discusses states' departures from multinational groups and the effects they have for the exiting state. A thought leader in the field of international relations, Vabulas has contributed to numerous academic journals and books. She earned a PhD in public policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Summary of the book: Why do states exit international organizations (IOs)? How often does exit from IOs – including voluntary withdrawal and forced suspension – occur? What are the effects of leaving IOs for the exiting state? Despite the importance of membership in IOs, a broader understanding of exit across states, organizations, and time has been limited. Exit from International Organizations addresses these lacunae through a theoretically grounded and empirically systematic study of IO exit. Von Borzyskowski and Vabulas argue that there is a common logic to IO exit which helps explain both its causes and consequences. By examining IO exit across 198 states, 534 IOs, and over a hundred years of history, they show that exit is driven by states' dissatisfaction, preference divergence, and is a strategy to negotiate institutional change. The book also demonstrates that exit is costly because it has reputational consequences for leaving states and significantly affects other forms of international cooperation