The State of the Field on Political Shocks: A Review of (Mostly) Quantitative Literature

Abstract

This chapter introduces readers to recent literature on political shocks and their relevance for foreign policy and international relations. The literature on the topic has been extensive and growing. I review the state of the literature on political shocks, and especially the large-N, quantitative literature (including a sample of over 1500 journal articles), addressing how political shocks have been approached and what we know thus far regarding their dynamics. In discussing the extant research, areas of consensus are highlighted as well as where discrepancies remain. The review suggests that while political shocks have become highly salient to scholars, it is also apparent that to better understand how such phenomena can come to impact key areas of scholarly concern, there is a need for further conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work in order to achieve a better understanding of conditions under which political shocks can lead to major foreign policy change.