Both realism and institutionalism ignore the domestic prerequisites of alliance costs

Evidence

Neorealist theories do a good job of outlining when and why states pay those costs; institutionalist theories explain why states continue to pay them. What neither adequately addresses, however, is that these costs must have domestic support. Neorealism, with its state-level assumptions and predictions, assumes leaders will act to meet threats. It does not address the internal prerequisites for such action. Likewise, institutionalist theories do not consider the impact of domestic coalitions and factions on the freedom of state leaders to pursue international policies. Unless one assumes autonomous leaders, this is an unwarranted premise. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 139

Categorization

• SEED: A clear framing of the theoretical gap — useful setup for arguing that friend-enemy unity is only as strong as the domestic coalitions and factions that underwrite it.

Related

• Neither neorealism nor institutionalism explains domestic support, an unwarranted omission. (similarity 0.92)
• alliance persistence requires domestic political support that international relations theories overlook (similarity 0.90)
• Deeply institutionalized alliances outlast ad hoc ones against realist expectations (similarity 0.86)
• Costly alliances should dissolve when the threat justifying their costs disappears. (similarity 0.84)
• Explaining alliance persistence requires nonrealist unit-level theory. (similarity 0.84)
• Realism explains alliance behavior under threat but fails without one. (similarity 0.83)
• All realists hold that external threats are necessary for alliances to form and persist (similarity 0.82)
• Theories should be judged by explaining outcomes and causal mechanisms, which neorealism fails at (similarity 0.82)
• Theoretical frameworks beyond realism are needed to explain NATO’s survival. (similarity 0.81)
• Domestic political costs constrain alliance participation once the founding threat recedes (similarity 0.81)
• Alliance commitments generate durable domestic constituencies that resist their abandonment. (similarity 0.81)
• A theory must explain overall outcomes, the standard neorealism fails. (similarity 0.81)
• An institutionalist view holds alliances survive only while states value their benefits. (similarity 0.81)
• Alliance theory has neglected why alliances persist and what happens when they become obsolete (similarity 0.80)
• NATO stayed cohesive despite neorealist predictions of its collapse (similarity 0.80)