The internal politics of external threat

Wright, Thorin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/34571 Copy

Description

Title

The internal politics of external threat

Author(s)

Wright, Thorin

Issue Date

2012-09-18T21:26:05Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Diehl, Paul F.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Diehl, Paul F.

Committee Member(s)

• Vasquez, John A.
• Svolik, Milan
• Dai, Xinyuan

Department of Study

Political Science

Discipline

Political Science

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• international conflict
• territory
• rivalry
• human rights

Abstract

This project focuses on domestic political pressures in response to different kinds of international threat. In explaining the domestic politics of external threat, I seek to answer why states choose escalate conflicts over some issues and not others, against rivals at certain times and not others, and choose to abuse human rights during some conflicts, but not others. I focus specifically on the interaction between the external threats of territorial competition and interstate rivalry with domestic political institutions to predict outcomes in interstate conflict such as escalation to war and rival conflict severity, as well as the propensity to repress human rights. I argue that democratic states, which are driven by popular support, are more likely to engage in conflict and repression when public goods issues such as symbolic territory (e.g. Jerusalem, Kashmir) are contested. In contrast autocratic states, which are dependent on elite support, are more likely threats salient when they threaten private good distribution, or when land such as resource rich territory, is on the line. In three empirical chapters, I explore the domestic politics of threat in three arenas. First, I examine how domestic considerations affect when and over what kinds of territory that state go to war; examining militarized territorial conflicts and territorial claims from 1816-2001. The second empirical chapter explores how domestic political concerns affect the escalation of conflict between international rivals from 1816-2001. Finally, the last empirical chapter explores how territorial conflict, rival conflict, and domestic politics intersect to alter states tendencies to abuse human rights from 1977-2001.

Graduation Semester

2012-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34571

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Thorin Wright

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