The Insiders’ Game: Elites, Democracy, and War | 2022 | Events

The Insiders’ Game: Elites, Democracy, and War
Elizabeth Saunders
Elizabeth Saunders
Georgetown University
March 9, 2022
12:05 - 1:30PM
In-person in E40-496 & Virtual

Summary:

One of the most important virtues of a democracy is presumed to be that its leaders are accountable to the public, which makes democracies more cautious about using military force and ultimately, more peaceful. This book argues that constraints on democratic leaders’ decisions about war come from elites, rather than the public, which pays little attention to decisions about the use of force.  Democratic elites have distinct preferences and politics from the mass public, making war an “insiders’ game.”  But this insiders’ game does not necessarily drive democracies to war.  Although elites are often caricatured as either guardians of peace or warmongers, the reality is more complicated.  While elites can push leaders toward war, they are also an important source of constraint and accountability.  Democratic leaders must bargain with elites or control information to secure crucial elite support for war.  Even if they support war, elites can force democratic leaders to alter military strategy or even end conflicts.  Outward elite consensus can thus mask fierce elite politics that shape the timing, scope, strategy, and duration of military conflict.  Democratic foreign policy under elite accountability is thus not as effective as some might hope—but it is also not as dangerous as others might fear.  Focusing on the United States, this book develops and tests a theory of elite politics and war, and shows how leaders’ domestic political bargaining with elites shape not only on when, but also how democracies use force.

Bio:

Elizabeth Saunders is an Associate Professor in the School of Foreign Service and a core faculty member in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.  She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.  Previously, she was an Associate Professor at George Washington University. Her research and teaching interests focus on international security and U.S. foreign policy, including the presidency and foreign policy, and the politics of using force.  Her book, Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions, was published in 2011 by Cornell University Press and won the 2012 Jervis-Schroeder Best Book Award from APSA’s International History and Politics section.  She has previously been a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; a postdoctoral fellow at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University; a Brookings Institution Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies; and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.  She holds an A.B. in physics and astronomy and astrophysics from Harvard College; an M.Phil. in international relations from the University of Cambridge; and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.