Substitution Is in the Variance: Resources and Foreign Policy Choice

This article argues that foreign policy substitution arises as a result of the costs of foreign policies relative to state resources. States with few resources are constrained in foreign policy choice compared to states with an abundance of resources. As a result, states with few resources will, on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of political science 2008-10, Vol.52 (4), p.763-773
Main Authors: Clark, David H., Nordstrom, Timothy, Reed, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Armed conflict
Choices
Coercion
Consumer spending
Economic models
Economic resources
Foreign Policy
Foreign relations
International economic relations
International politics
International relations
Modeling
Natural resources
Policy Analysis
Political science
Political theory
Resource costs
Resource management
Resource scarcity
Statistical variance
War conflict
World economy
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Summary:This article argues that foreign policy substitution arises as a result of the costs of foreign policies relative to state resources. States with few resources are constrained in foreign policy choice compared to states with an abundance of resources. As a result, states with few resources will, on average, select, lower-cost policies than will resource-rich states. Resource-rich states, by virtue of their abundant resources, have greater discretion over policy choice and thus behave less uniformly than do resource-poor states. Our empirical results provide evidence of this and support the argument that substitution is in the variance.
ISSN:0092-5853
1540-5907
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00341.x