Partisan politics and treaty ratification: The acceptance of International Labour Organisation conventions by industrialised democracies, 1960–1996

This article looks at the political and economic determinants of the ratification of International Labour Organisation conventions by 17 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries since 1960. Two well‐known models of intra‐governmental decision making – the veto player model and the portfolio allocation model – provide alternative assumptions regarding the political process. Results from stratified Cox estimation of the ratification hazard suggest that the latter model is more appropriate than the former. They indicate that partisan preferences of government parties have a huge influence on ratification probabilities. Among economic determinants, the unemployment rate and the sectoral composition of employment exert a significant impact, but its size differs according to the government's policy position.