Too many problems at home to help you: Domestic disincentives for military coalition participation

Abstract

Scholars have begun to examine the determinants of military coalition participation. Most studies pay closer attention to international (both systemic/dyadic) rather than domestic factors. While admitting the predominance of such international factors, this study claims that the domestic conditions of potential participants also determine if a state actually joins in a coalition. Specifically, domestic conditions work as suppressing factors for coalition participation. First, riots and violent domestic protests lead to a significant reduction in the probability of sending military troops for a coalition operation, because military resources cannot be deployed when they might be needed to maintain domestic order. Second, a state that is experiencing an economic recession cannot easily send its troops to a coalition operation because the domestic audience would prefer to prioritize resource allocations for domestic economic recovery.