When do regional organisations shame? Non-Western responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

Why do some regional organisations shame violators of international norms while others stay silent? I address this question by examining how non-Western regional organisations responded to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Unlike Western regional organisations, non-Western regional organisations did not cohesively condemn Russia’s violation of the territorial integrity norm. Only six non-Western regional organisations shamed Russia, while most remained neutral. Using qualitative comparative analysis, I investigate the determinants of this variation by integrating state-level factors (democratic density and material dependence on Russia) with organisational factors (voting rules and presence of BRICS regional powers). The analysis reveals three key findings: First, democratic density was critical – all regional organisations that shamed Russia had medium-to-high democratic density, whereas those with low democratic density did not. Second, majority voting rules enabled democratic members to overcome opposition from minorities aligned with Russia or dependent on its agricultural exports. Third, even without majority voting, the absence of BRICS regional powers and low dependence on Russian agriculture facilitated shaming. These findings advance the international organisation shaming literature by demonstrating how democratic density, institutional design, power asymmetries, and material dependencies interact to shape regional organisation responses to norm violations. They also contribute to debates over Global South positioning amid growing international norm contestation.