| Abstract |
"How do impending elections affect a U.S. president's decision making in wartime? At once commander in chief and holder of the highest elected office, U.S. presidents must balance the national interest and personal political survival when assessing strategies. While we all have an intuitive sense that elections "matter" in some way, exactly how, why, or when they do so is not well understood. Frequently invoked in an ad hoc manner to give color to historical accounts, the systematic analysis of the relationship between the electoral cycle and wartime decision making in particular is a blind spot in an otherwise rich literature on the domestic components of American foreign policy. Using a wealth of original documentary sources and interviews with dozens of senior administration officials and high-ranking generals, War on the Ballot reveals the surprisingly large role that electoral politics has played in all of America's major wars since 1945. In Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, critical decisions regarding military and diplomatic strategy were all too often taken with one eye on the domestic political calendar-sometimes with striking disregard for the national interest. Political scientist Andrew Payne models electoral pressures as a conditional source of constraint, which can push or pull presidents towards more belligerent or more cautious courses of action depending on their perception of the strategic and electoral dynamics at stake. The book captures the reality that both the anticipation of future election seasons and the memory of earlier commitments made on the campaign trail can have substantial impact on decision making-as can congressional midterm campaigns. At the highest level of national security policy, as one senior military officer concluded with dismay, it was "all about politics.""-- Provided by publisher. |
