Domestic Political Systems and War Proneness

This essay juxtaposes two bodies of research that examine the linkage between domestic politics and decisions to go to war. It reviews the literature linking regime structure to war proneness as well as the literature that explores how leaders and opposition constrain what states do in foreign policy. Three issues are raised in the process of bringing these literatures together. (1) Domestic political constraints appear to be pervasive and highly variable phenomena that are found in different types of political systems and are not limited to democracies. (2) Leaders can respond to domestic opposition in fundamentally different ways that result in sharply different effects on foreign policy. (3) The beliefs and interests that are shared by a state's leaders and its support groups form an important motivational basis for the overall direction a state will take in its foreign policy.