Friends Indeed. Coalition Burden Sharing and the War In Iraq. Volume 1; Doctoral thesis

摘要

Why do states contribute to ad hoc security coalitions and what factors influence their level and composition of support. What factors influence states decisions to contribute and the type of contribution. What motivated countries such as South Korea to contribute significantly to the Iraq War coalition of the willing while steadfast partners such as Turkey and Germany resisted U.S. efforts to include them as coalition partners. Given the potential for coalition, rather than alliance military action, coalitions are understudied as a tool of grand strategy. This research examines the conditions that influence state burden sharing behavior for ad hoc security coalitions and examines the decision making model developed by Andrew Bennett, Joseph Lepgold, and Danny Unger. In an analysis of South Korean, Turkish, and German contributions to the current Iraq War coalition, this research tests an integrative model to explain the spectrum of constraints and opportunities defined by the dynamics of the international system, as well as the capabilities to account for domestic political constraints. This study finds that domestic structure in the form of the relationship between the state executive and legislature significantly influences a given state's burden sharing behavior. Executive authority and parliamentary accountability appreciably affects the ability of a state to contribute military forces to an international coalition, especially in instances where threat or collective action pressures are low. States with strong executive power in the area of military oversight are less constrained in providing military forces, while states with considerable parliamentary freedom are likely to show a much lower level of commitment. This study fills a gap in the international relations literature in that it explains the influence of state structure on state coalition burden sharing decisions and formalizes the influence of domestic structure in the decision making model.