At the Water’s Edge: The Decline of Partisan Liberal Internationalism?

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the decline in the “liberal consensus hypothesis”, or the idea that there has been a move away in the West from a consensus in favor of commitment to international engagement and multilateralism. Using data from the Comparative Manifesto Project, we examine, first, whether there has been a decline in the level of partisan consensus on international engagement as reflected in the manifestos of the major Western political parties. Second, we examine whether changes in commitment were the result of shifts in the international environment, or a function of domestic political changes (such as party systems changes and economic performance). We test our hypotheses using data from 131 parties in 23 OECD countries across 365 elections from 1945-2010.

Keywords: liberal consensus, foreign policy, political parties