Domestic Institutions and the Political Economy of International Agreements
Abstract: Constitutional rules according to which political power is acquired and exercised have a systematic influence on the nature of the political game and thus on policy outcomes. The present paper explores whether systematic differences in foreign policy outcomes follow from the workings of democratic accountability and from alternative constitutional arrangements. The following hypotheses linking domestic institutions to foreign policy choices are proposed. First, the number of institutional and partisan veto players is likely to affect the incentives of governments to use international agreements as a signaling device to lend credibility to reforms and as a tool to lock in domestic reforms. Second, electoral systems were found to influence the political decision to provide either public goods or benefits targeted to narrow groups. Politicians might find it useful to tie their hands through international agreements to thwart electoral pressures to please narrow groups. In brief, the focus lies on domestic political economy factors motivating governments to make use of international agreements.
