Impact of Domestic Winners and Losers on International Relations

In the analysis of international relations, states are often described as single actors cooperating and/or bargaining with each other. However, a closer look at domestic forces reveals their impact on a country’s leadership to act on the international level in a certain way. In the following essay, I will explain what impact domestic winners and losers can have on making cooperation or conflict between states more likely. I will show that narrow interests of (prospective) winners or losers are hardly able to influence a country’s general interest for national security or economic progress, but can make themselves heard in particular policy fields. By structuring the discussion along the issue areas of war, globalization, and environment, I will explain the relevance of power structures as well as political systems for domestic winners and losers’ potential to influence international interactions.