Peacemaking by Democracies
The Effect of State Autonomy on the Post-World-War Settlements

Norrin M. Ripsman

December | 2002
6 x 9 inches

Comparative Politics, History
Hardback: $52.00 SH
ISBN-10: 0-271-02222-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-271-02222-2

Paperback: $27.00 SH
ISBN-10: 0-271-02398-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-271-02398-4

Analysts of domestic politics in democratic countries have long argued that differences in the structures, procedures, and norms affecting the way democratic governments operate influence which policies executives choose and the degree of autonomy they have in choosing them in the face of popular and legislative opposition. However, when theorists explain how democracies conduct foreign policy, they tend to ignore or downplay differences and assume that democratic governments all behave similarly.

Challenging this assumption, Peacemaking by Democracies breaks down the category of "democracy" to argue that differences in structural autonomy among democratic states have a lot to do with how foreign security policies are chosen and international negotiations are carried out. The more structural autonomy the foreign security policy executive possesses, the greater the policy independence from public and legislative opinion it is able to achieve.

Employing detailed case studies of American, British, and French peacemaking policies toward Germany after the two world wars, the book confirms, on one hand, that more autonomous executives, such as those in Britain and the United States after World War II, could ignore domestic pressures. On the other hand, domestic opposition often handcuffed the weaker executives of all three countries following World War I and French executives following World War II. These weaker executives could often only circumvent democratic constraints by manipulating and deceiving the public and legislature, a strategy that yielded limited policy independence and high political costs. Nonetheless, the weaker executives used their domestic constraints as a means of extracting concessions from their partners in international negotiations.

Concluding with an examination of the implications of these findings for security policy in contemporary democracies, Peacemaking by Democracies combines innovation in international relations theory with careful primary research in historical archives.