Two-Level Games beyond the United States: International Indexing in Britain during the Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

Abstract

This article uses an innovative international application of the media studies “indexing” hypothesis to highlight the need for Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) studies beyond the United States to apply Robert Putnam’s two-level game decision-making model slightly differently. Journalists’ tendency to cite sources they consider authoritative leads news media in weaker states to grant greater domestic political access to foreign leaders than do news media in stronger states. This opens the way for greater “reverberation”, in Putnam’s terms; direct foreign influence over domestic bargaining games. The article compares UK and US media coverage of three recent joint military operations, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, to show the international indexing effect at work. It then suggests how scholars using the two-level game model outside of the United States might amend their approach to make reverberation more significant.