Bomb or build? How party ideologies affect the balance of foreign aid and defence spending

Abstract

This article contributes to a growing literature that questions the traditional ‘politics stops at the water’s edge’ paradigm. Left- and right-wing parties hold diverging ideologies and articulate specific party programmes regarding policy priorities in the realm of foreign and security affairs. The impact of partisan contestations over foreign policy priorities can be traced in defence and foreign aid spending. We understand this ‘bomb-or-build’-balance as two sides of a coin which shapes the international posture of democracies. Our quantitative analysis of 21 OECD countries (1988–2014) reveals that the ideological positions of the parties in government influence the relative importance of military expenditures versus foreign aid. The more the ideological position of a government is tilted towards the military (and against internationalism), the more the ‘bomb-or-build’-balance shifts in favour of military spending (and in disfavour of foreign aid).

Beyond Power Politics: How Ideology Motivates Threat Perception—and International Relations

“…Right-wing legislators in Europe vote more frequently to support military deployments (Wagner et al, 2018), and to increase military budgets (Bove et al, 2017), than left-wing legislators do. Left-leaning governments favour foreign aid, while right-leaning governments favour military spending (Wenzelburger & Boller, 2020). These partisan differences in foreign policy are rooted in ideological differences.…”

Brakeman or booster? Presidents, ideological polarization, reciprocity, and the politics of US arms control

“…It can be assumed that conservative politicians focus on military primacy, rely on unilateralism as a strategic policy option, and underscore the importance of 'peace through strength' (Ronald Reagan, cited in Cannon, 1980), rather than through multilateralism and international cooperation. This assumption is also supported by comparative research both for the USA, and for other democracies (see Gries, 2014;Lewis, 2017: 51;Wenzelburger and Böller, 2020). I do not suggest that Republican presidents will never enter international arms control treaties, while Democratic presidents will be happy to sign whatever is presented for signature.…”

Ideology and international relations

“…Right-wing legislators vote more to support military deployments [59] and increase military budgets [60]. Left-leaning governments, by contrast, are more likely to favour spending on foreign aid than on the military [61]. These ideological effects are not reducible to partisanship.…”