Domestic Society and International Cooperation: The Impact of Protest on US Arms Control Policy

by Jeffrey W. Knopf

• ISBN13: 9780521622400
• ISBN10: 0521622409
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this book, Jeffrey Knopf investigates domestic sources of state preferences about whether to seek cooperation with other countries on security issues. He does so by examining whether public protest against nuclear weapons influenced US decisions to enter strategic arms talks. The analysis builds on the domestic structure approach to explaining foreign policy, using it as the starting point to develop a new framework with which to trace the influence of societal actors. The book's finding that protest had a major impact suggests that prevailing conceptions of the relation between domestic politics and international cooperation need to be broadened. Existing approaches typically assume that state preferences are set by political leaders or powerful interests, thereby treating the rest of society only as a constraint on state action. In contrast, this book demonstrates that ordinary citizens can also serve as a direct stimulus to the development of a state interest in cooperation.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x	(1)
Preface	xi	(3)
List of abbreviations	xiv
Introduction	1	(11)
1 The domestic politics of cooperation: three views	12	(16)
2 Protest and arms control: a first look	28	(21)
3 A framework for assessing activism's influence	49	(30)
4 Eisenhower's first initiatives: a matter of priorities	79	(29)
5 Eisenhower and the test ban movement	108	(50)
6 The decision to begin SALT	158	(41)
7 Reagan and the freeze movement	199	(48)
Conclusions	247	(16)
Bibliography	263	(18)
Index	281