Advantages and disadvantages of inclusive multilateral venues: The rise and fall of the United Nations General Assembly resolution on new or restored democracies

Are the factors that lead states to increase their support for an international norm in a particular multilateral venue similar to or different from those that influence states to decrease their support? This article presents a case study of the rise and fall of a recurring United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on UN support for new or restored democracies. Domestic and international influences on the rise in support for the resolution from 1994 to the early 2000s include states' interests in preventing destructive effects of authoritarianism, attracting resources, improving security, the UN's flexible understanding of democracy, procedural legitimacy, and regional influences. However, the puzzle of states' decreased support for the resolution after the mid-2000s is better explained by the emergence of an alternative, more exclusive venue, leading actors concerned with substantive outcomes to shift political attention away from the movement associated with the UNGA.