Foreign Suffrage as a Way to Mitigate International Conflicts

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between foreign suffrage and cooperation among nations, considering a three-stage game admitting strategic delegation twice. In the first delegation stage, each country chooses whether to allow foreigners to vote in the election of the country. In the second delegation stage, the electorate chooses a representative deciding the amount of military spending to maximize the representative's utility. Without foreign suffrage, the military spending chosen in each country would be socially excessive. We show that giving voting rights to foreigners in a country can improve own citizens' welfare.