David P Auerswald
Biographic Data
| ID | 1271759 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David P Auerswald |
| GIVEN NAMES | David P |
| FAMILY NAME | Auerswald |
| SIGNATURE | AUERSWALD D P |
| AFFILIATIONS | George Washington University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 152 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Some Assembly Required
Legislatures vary widely in how they affect democratic civil–military relations. In some countries, legislative oversight plays a critical role in guiding their defense establishment. In others, legislators are largely ignorant and happily so. In this article, we explain the sources of these variations in fifteen democratic states. After discussing the importance of the legislature's role in democratic civil–military relations, we clarify what we…
Legislatures and civil‒military relations in the United States and the United Kingdom
Legislatures in separation of powers systems like the US are often portrayed as having far greater capabilities and willingness to change defence policy than are parliaments in Westminster systems. This paper uses principal‒agent models and hypotheses on legislative will to review the role of defence committees in the US Congress and Britain's parliament during each country's most recent, significant change in civil‒military relations. Congressio…
Nato in Afghanistan
Modern warfare is almost always multilateral to one degree or another, requiring countries to cooperate as allies or coalition partners. Yet as the war in Afghanistan has made abundantly clear, multilateral cooperation is neither straightforward nor guaranteed. Countries differ significantly in what they are willing to do and how and where they are willing to do it. Some refuse to participate in dangerous or offensive missions. Others change tact…
Nato in Afghanistan
Comparing Caveats
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most robust and deeply institutionalized alliance in the modern world, yet it has faced significant problems in running the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Specifically, the coalition effort has been plagued by caveats: restrictions on what coalition militaries can and cannot do. Caveats have diminished the alliance's overall effectiveness and created resentment within t…
Congress and the Politics of National Security
In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, a growing number of observers and practitioners have called for a re-examination of our national security system. Central to any such reform effort is an evaluation of Congress. Is Congress adequately organized to deal with national security issues in an integrated and coordinated manner? How have developments in Congress over the past few decades, such as heightened partisanship, message politi…
Senate Reservations to Security Treaties
The constitution mandates that the Senate provide or withhold its advice and consent whenever the president wishes to implement an international treaty. Yet, the advice and consent process is a relatively underappreciated venue by which the Senate might advance its own policy initiatives. In this article, I examine senate consideration of security treaties from 1947 to 2000 to assess the degree to which the Senate inserted its own policy initiati…
Deterring Nonstate WMD Attacks
Teaching strategy through theory and practice
On the morning of September 11, 2001, we were just finishing up our seminars at the US National War College for the course, Strategic Logic. The topic was ‘Engagement’, and our students, who are al
Explaining Wars of Choice
This study explains the behavior of democratic states during wars of choice using an integrated decision model. Integrated models are an attractive choice for explaining multifaceted decisions, particularly when simpler, existing theories have an uneven or only partial ability to explain conflict behavior. To illustrate these points, this study assesses the behavior of key NATO members during the 1999 intervention in Kosovo. I compare the behavio…
Policymaking through Advice and Consent
Conventional wisdom holds that the President of the United States has a high degree of autonomy over U.S. foreign policy. Such autonomy is said to stem in part from his ability to confront the Senate with the either-or choice of accepting or rejecting treaties. In this article, we take issue with this characterization and explore how the Senate uses treaty "reservations" to alter ratification documents and advance Senate policy views. We find con…
The President, the Congress and American Missile Defence Policy
Disarmed Democracies
In Disarmed Democracies: Domestic Institutions and the Use of Force, David P. Auerswald examines how the structure of domestic political institutions affects whether democracies use force or make threats during international disputes. Auerswald argues that the behavior of democracies in interstate conflict is shaped as much by domestic political calculations as by geopolitical circumstance. Variations in the structure of a democracy's institution…
Inward Bound
In this article I explore the propensity of democracies to use military force when involved in international disputes. I argue that the use of force by democracies in large part results from the domestic circumstances confronting their chief executives and that those circumstances vary predictably across democracies based on the structure of their domestic institutions. For example, U.S. presidents must garner public support before elections and …
Ballotbox Diplomacy
The strategic problem for the United States during the lead-up to a potential military clash is maintaining the executive's ability to respond internationally while not abrogating legislative oversight of the use of force. In light of this dilemma, congressional leaders have an incentive to engage in "stage management": establishing short-term contracts with the executive that shift political risk during conflict onto the president while maintain…
Inward Bound
In this article I explore the propensity of democracies to use military force when involved in international disputes. I argue that the use of force by democracies in large part results from the domestic circumstances confronting their chief executives and that those circumstances vary predictably across democracies based on the structure of their domestic institutions. For example, U.S. presidents must garner public support before elections and …
Comparing Caveats
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most robust and deeply institutionalized alliance in the modern world, yet it has faced significant problems in running the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Specifically, the coalition effort has been plagued by caveats: restrictions on what coalition militaries can and cannot do. Caveats have diminished the alliance's overall effectiveness and created resentment within t…
Explaining Wars of Choice
This study explains the behavior of democratic states during wars of choice using an integrated decision model. Integrated models are an attractive choice for explaining multifaceted decisions, particularly when simpler, existing theories have an uneven or only partial ability to explain conflict behavior. To illustrate these points, this study assesses the behavior of key NATO members during the 1999 intervention in Kosovo. I compare the behavio…
Ballotbox Diplomacy
The strategic problem for the United States during the lead-up to a potential military clash is maintaining the executive's ability to respond internationally while not abrogating legislative oversight of the use of force. In light of this dilemma, congressional leaders have an incentive to engage in "stage management": establishing short-term contracts with the executive that shift political risk during conflict onto the president while maintain…
Policymaking through Advice and Consent
Conventional wisdom holds that the President of the United States has a high degree of autonomy over U.S. foreign policy. Such autonomy is said to stem in part from his ability to confront the Senate with the either-or choice of accepting or rejecting treaties. In this article, we take issue with this characterization and explore how the Senate uses treaty "reservations" to alter ratification documents and advance Senate policy views. We find con…
Legislatures and civil‒military relations in the United States and the United Kingdom
Legislatures in separation of powers systems like the US are often portrayed as having far greater capabilities and willingness to change defence policy than are parliaments in Westminster systems. This paper uses principal‒agent models and hypotheses on legislative will to review the role of defence committees in the US Congress and Britain's parliament during each country's most recent, significant change in civil‒military relations. Congressio…
Deterring Nonstate WMD Attacks
Some Assembly Required
Legislatures vary widely in how they affect democratic civil–military relations. In some countries, legislative oversight plays a critical role in guiding their defense establishment. In others, legislators are largely ignorant and happily so. In this article, we explain the sources of these variations in fifteen democratic states. After discussing the importance of the legislature's role in democratic civil–military relations, we clarify what we…
Teaching strategy through theory and practice
On the morning of September 11, 2001, we were just finishing up our seminars at the US National War College for the course, Strategic Logic. The topic was ‘Engagement’, and our students, who are al
Ballotbox Diplomacy
The strategic problem for the United States during the lead-up to a potential military clash is maintaining the executive's ability to respond internationally while not abrogating legislative oversight of the use of force. In light of this dilemma, congressional leaders have an incentive to engage in "stage management": establishing short-term contracts with the executive that shift political risk during conflict onto the president while maintain…
Inward Bound
In this article I explore the propensity of democracies to use military force when involved in international disputes. I argue that the use of force by democracies in large part results from the domestic circumstances confronting their chief executives and that those circumstances vary predictably across democracies based on the structure of their domestic institutions. For example, U.S. presidents must garner public support before elections and …
Disarmed Democracies
In Disarmed Democracies: Domestic Institutions and the Use of Force, David P. Auerswald examines how the structure of domestic political institutions affects whether democracies use force or make threats during international disputes. Auerswald argues that the behavior of democracies in interstate conflict is shaped as much by domestic political calculations as by geopolitical circumstance. Variations in the structure of a democracy's institution…
The President, the Congress and American Missile Defence Policy
Policymaking through Advice and Consent
Conventional wisdom holds that the President of the United States has a high degree of autonomy over U.S. foreign policy. Such autonomy is said to stem in part from his ability to confront the Senate with the either-or choice of accepting or rejecting treaties. In this article, we take issue with this characterization and explore how the Senate uses treaty "reservations" to alter ratification documents and advance Senate policy views. We find con…
Teaching strategy through theory and practice
On the morning of September 11, 2001, we were just finishing up our seminars at the US National War College for the course, Strategic Logic. The topic was ‘Engagement’, and our students, who are al
Explaining Wars of Choice
This study explains the behavior of democratic states during wars of choice using an integrated decision model. Integrated models are an attractive choice for explaining multifaceted decisions, particularly when simpler, existing theories have an uneven or only partial ability to explain conflict behavior. To illustrate these points, this study assesses the behavior of key NATO members during the 1999 intervention in Kosovo. I compare the behavio…
Senate Reservations to Security Treaties
The constitution mandates that the Senate provide or withhold its advice and consent whenever the president wishes to implement an international treaty. Yet, the advice and consent process is a relatively underappreciated venue by which the Senate might advance its own policy initiatives. In this article, I examine senate consideration of security treaties from 1947 to 2000 to assess the degree to which the Senate inserted its own policy initiati…
Deterring Nonstate WMD Attacks
Congress and the Politics of National Security
In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, a growing number of observers and practitioners have called for a re-examination of our national security system. Central to any such reform effort is an evaluation of Congress. Is Congress adequately organized to deal with national security issues in an integrated and coordinated manner? How have developments in Congress over the past few decades, such as heightened partisanship, message politi…
Comparing Caveats
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most robust and deeply institutionalized alliance in the modern world, yet it has faced significant problems in running the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Specifically, the coalition effort has been plagued by caveats: restrictions on what coalition militaries can and cannot do. Caveats have diminished the alliance's overall effectiveness and created resentment within t…
Nato in Afghanistan
Modern warfare is almost always multilateral to one degree or another, requiring countries to cooperate as allies or coalition partners. Yet as the war in Afghanistan has made abundantly clear, multilateral cooperation is neither straightforward nor guaranteed. Countries differ significantly in what they are willing to do and how and where they are willing to do it. Some refuse to participate in dangerous or offensive missions. Others change tact…
Nato in Afghanistan
Legislatures and civil‒military relations in the United States and the United Kingdom
Legislatures in separation of powers systems like the US are often portrayed as having far greater capabilities and willingness to change defence policy than are parliaments in Westminster systems. This paper uses principal‒agent models and hypotheses on legislative will to review the role of defence committees in the US Congress and Britain's parliament during each country's most recent, significant change in civil‒military relations. Congressio…
Some Assembly Required
Legislatures vary widely in how they affect democratic civil–military relations. In some countries, legislative oversight plays a critical role in guiding their defense establishment. In others, legislators are largely ignorant and happily so. In this article, we explain the sources of these variations in fifteen democratic states. After discussing the importance of the legislature's role in democratic civil–military relations, we clarify what we…
Political science (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Foreign policy (7 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies (5 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (5 works)