Polarization and International Politics: How Extreme Partisanship Threatens Global Stability
Forthcoming at Princeton University Press (Studies in International History & Politics)
Polarization is a defining feature of politics in the United States and many other democracies. Yet although there is much research focusing on the effects of polarization on domestic politics, little is known about how polarization influences international cooperation and conflict. Democracies are thought to have advantages over nondemocratic nations in international relations, including the ability to keep foreign policy stable across time, credibly signal information to adversaries, and maintain commitments to allies. Does domestic polarization affect these “democratic advantages”? In this timely book, Rachel Myrick argues that polarization reshapes the nature of constraints on democratic leaders, which in turn erodes the advantages democracies have in foreign affairs.
Drawing on a range of evidence, including cross-national analyses, observational and experimental public opinion research, descriptive data on the behavior of politicians, and interviews with policymakers, Myrick develops metrics that explain the effect of extreme polarization on international politics and traces the pathways by which polarization undermines each of the democratic advantages. Turning to the case of contemporary US foreign policy, Myrick shows that as its political leaders become less responsive to the public and less accountable to political opposition, the United States loses both reliability as an ally and credibility as an adversary. Myrick’s account links the effects of polarization on democratic governance to theories of international relations, integrating work across the fields of international relations, comparative politics, and American politics to explore how patterns of domestic polarization shape the international system.
Other Book Projects
THE DOMESTIC POLITICS OF FOREIGN THREAT
Manuscript in Preparation
Security threats are often thought to be good for domestic politics because they generate national unity. This book explores two mechanisms that underpin the “external threat narrative” in international relations. The first is an information mechanism: new security threats provide information about a foreign adversary, focusing policymakers on a shared goal. This elevates national security over partisan politics, leading to convergence in foreign affairs. The second is an identity mechanism: threats dampen affective polarization among the public by defining a common foreign enemy, subordinating partisan identity to national identity. This book argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, security threats do not inherently reduce polarization. Instead, they tend to reflect the domestic political environment in which they enter. The book examines the conditions under which foreign threats are unifying or divisive using a series of “most likely” cases for the external threat narrative, exploring when and why threats become politicized domestically.