Dimensions of Democracy and Military Expenditure

Abstract

Is democracy a luxury that nations cannot afford during wartime? Focusing on the dimensions of democracy separately, I argue that two main features of democracy, contestation and inclusiveness, pull war effort decisions in opposite directions. While decreasing contestation increases the available discretionary resources to leaders and generates long-term reputational incentives to fund a war effort, the inclusiveness dimension determines leaders’ ability to maintain their support base at different levels of a war effort. Predictions from this new theory are tested with a panel dataset that covers all the state-years between 1950 and 2000. Statistical analyses confirm the implications of the theory.

Keywords

Democracy, Domestic Politics, Reputation, War, Military Expenditure

Citation

Omer Faruk Orsun, “Dimensions of Democracy and Military Expenditure”, Uluslararasi Iliskiler, Vol. 17, No. 67, 2020, pp. 61-80, DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.772657

Affiliations

• Omer Faruk ORSUN, Dr., Instructor of Social Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, Division of Social Science, United Arab Emirates