The Democratic Politics of Military Interventions : Political Parties, Contestation, and Decisions to Use Force Abroad

According to a widely shared notion, foreign affairs are exempted from democratic politics, i.e., party-political divisions are overcome—and should be overcome—for the sake of a common national interest. This book shows that this is not the case. Examining votes in the US Congress and several European parliaments, the book demonstrates that contestation over foreign affairs is barely different from contestation over domestic politics. Analyses of a new collection of deployment votes, of party manifestos, and of expert survey data show that political parties differ systematically over foreign policy and military interventions in particular. The left/right divide is the best guide to the pattern of party-political contestation: support is weakest at the far left of the spectrum and increases as one moves along the left/right axis to green, social democratic, liberal, and conservative parties; amongst parties of the far right, support is again weaker than amongst parties of the centre. An analysis of parliamentary debates in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom about the interventions in Afghanistan and against Daesh in Iraq and Syria shows that political parties also differ systematically in how they frame the use of force abroad. For example, parties on the right tend to frame their country’s participation in the US-led missions in terms of national security and national interests whereas parties on the left tend to engage in ‘spiral model thinking’, i.e., they critically reflect on the unintended consequences of the use of force in fuelling the conflicts with the Taliban and Daesh. Cover The Democratic Politics of Military Interventions: Political Parties, Contestation, and Decisions to Use Force Abroad Copyright Preface and Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction and Plan of the Book 1.1 The ‘Neglected Element’: Political Parties and Foreign Affairs 1.2 Which Parties? Which Policies? 1.3 Plan of the Book Chapter 2: Democratic Politics and Foreign Affairs: A Theoretical Framework 2.1 The Normative Debate: The (In)compatibility of Democratic Politics with International Conflict and Security 2.2 Zooming in on the Democratic Politics of International Conflict: The Democratic Peace Debate and Beyond 2.2.1 Democratic Institutions 2.2.2 Liberal Ideas and Political Culture: Ambivalence and Diversity 2.3 Differences Among Democracies and Party-Political Orientation of Government 2.4 Conclusion Chapter 3: Contestation and Politicization of Security and Defence Policy 3.1 Contestation and Politicization 3.2 Methodology 3.3 Long-Term Patterns of Contestation: Congressional Voting between 1789 and 2014 3.4 Foreign, Security, and Defence Policy Votes in Germany and the Netherlands 3.5 Deployment Votes 3.5.1 US Declarations of War and Authorizations to Use Force 3.5.2 Deployment Votes since the End of the Cold War 3.6 Conclusion Chapter 4: The Party Politics of Foreign and Security Policy 4.1 Why Political Parties Differ 4.2 How Political Parties Differ: The Left/Right and the ‘New Politics’ Dimensions 4.3 Dimensions of Party-Political Contestation: Evidence from Manifestos, Experts, and Parliamentary Votes 4.3.1 Pro or Against the Military and Security and Defence Policy: Evidence from Party Manifestos 4.3.2 Pro or Against Peace and Security Missions: Evidence from Expert Surveys 4.3.3 Pro or Against Actual Military Deployments: Evidence from Votes in Parliament 4.4 Conclusion Chapter 5: Debating Military Interventions: Party-Specific Arguments and Justifications 5.1 Selecting Countries and Military Missions 5.1.1 Selecting Missions 5.1.1.1 The Military Intervention in Afghanistan 5.1.1.2 Fighting Daesh in Iraq and Syria 5.1.2 Selecting Countries 5.1.2.1 United Kingdom 5.1.2.2 Canada 5.1.2.3 Germany 5.2 Method 5.3 Findings 5.4 Conclusion 5.5 Technical Appendix Chapter 6: Conclusions and Outlook 6.1 Party Politics Matters 6.2 Nuancing the Role of Political Parties in Foreign Affairs 6.3 The Democratic Politics of Foreign Affairs 6.4 Policy Implications 6.4.1 Making Space for Transnational Party Politics 6.4.2 The Impact of Politicization 6.5 Directions for Further Research References Sources Canada United Kingdom Germany References Index