War and democratic constraint : how the public influences foreign policy / Matthew A. Baum, Philip B. K. Potter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baum, Matthew A., 1965-

Contributor:

Potter, Philip B. K.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International relations--Public opinion.

International relations.

International relations--Decision making--Citizen participation.

Political participation.

International relations--Decision making.

Physical Description:

xiv, 258 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2015]

Summary:

"Why do some democracies reflect their citizens' foreign policy preferences better than others? What roles do the media, political parties, and the electoral system play in a democracy's decision to join or avoid a war? War and Democratic Constraint shows that the key to how a government determines foreign policy rests on the transmission and availability of information. Citizens successfully hold their democratic governments accountable and a distinctive foreign policy emerges when two vital institutions--a diverse and independent political opposition and a robust media--are present to make timely information accessible.Matthew Baum and Philip Potter demonstrate that there must first be a politically potent opposition that can blow the whistle when a leader missteps. This counteracts leaders' incentives to obscure and misrepresent. Second, healthy media institutions must be in place and widely accessible in order to relay information from whistle-blowers to the public. Baum and Potter explore this communication mechanism during three different phases of international conflicts: when states initiate wars, when they respond to challenges from other states, or when they join preexisting groups of actors engaged in conflicts.Examining recent wars, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq, War and Democratic Constraint links domestic politics and mass media to international relations in a brand-new way"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction: Looking for Democratic Constraint 1

Why Democratic Institutions Matter 3

The Role of Political Information within Democracies 4

The Recipe for Democratic Constraint 7

Effects on What? 9

Moving Forward 11

Chapter 2 Democracies Are Not Created Equal: A Theory of Democratic Constraint 14

Information, Accountability, and Principal-Agent Problems 15

An Uninformed, Inattentive Electorate 19

Political Opposition as Whistleblowers 21

Media Institutions and the Transmission of Information 28

Hearing the Whistleblowers-The Importance of the Press 32

Bringing Together Information Generation and Transmission 37

Foreign Policy Responsiveness and International Conflict Behavior 41

Initiation and the Democratic Peace 43

Reciprocation and Audience Costs 47

Coalition Formation 49

Conclusion and Next Steps 52

Chapter 3 Democratic Constraint, the Democratic Peace, and Conflict Initiation 53

Period and Structure of Analysis 56

Measuring Conflict Initiation 58

Measuring the Extent of Opposition with Political Parties 59

Measuring Media Access 60

Measuring Press Freedom 61

Additional Controls 64

Results 67

Democratic Constraint among Democracies 71

Alternative Measures of Conflict 73

The Independent Effects of Opposition and Access 74

Conclusion 75

Appendix 1 Statistical Tables and Robustness Tests 77

Appendix 2 The Role of the Internet 81

Chapter 4 Looking for Audience Costs in All the Wrong Places: Constraint and Reciprocation 86

Research Design 88

Results 90

Unpacking Militarized Disputes 92

Compellent Threats 94

The Problem of Perception 96

Conclusion 98

Appendix: Statistical Tables and Robustness Tests 99

Chapter 5 Willing and Politically Able: Democratic Constraint and Coalition Joining 103

Iraq (2003): Operation Iraqi Freedom 104

Afghanistan (2001): Operation Enduring Freedom 121

Conclusion 129

Appendix: Statistical Tables and Robustness Tests 130

Chapter 6 Downs Meets the Press: How Party Systems

Shape the News 151

Mapping News Content onto the Downsian Premise 153

Cases and Data 156

Results 159

2004 and 2009 European Election Studies (EES) 161

Conclusion 163

Appendix: Statistical Tables, Robustness Tests, and Content Analysis Codebook 164

Chapter 7 Coalition Stories: Cases from the Iraq Coalition 193

Case Selection 194

The United Kingdom 198

Spain 205

Poland 210

Germany 213

Conclusion 220

Chapter 8 Conclusion: Information, Constraint, and Democratic Foreign Policy 222

Policy Implications 223

Recipe for a Watchdog Press: Some Prescriptions for Media Ownership 226

Technological Change, the Internet, and Satellite Television 229

Moving Forward 232.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691164984

0691164983

9780691165233

0691165238

OCLC:

894625400