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Tip-toeing through the Tulips with Congress

How Congressional Attention Constrains Covert Action

Expected online publication date:  24 December 2024

Dani Kaufmann Nedal
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Madison V. Schramm
Affiliation:
University of Toronto

Summary

Over the years, the US has intervened covertly in many countries to remove dictators, subvert elected leaders, and support coups. Explanations for this focus on characteristics of target countries or strategic incentives to pursue regime change. This Element provides an account of domestic political factors constraining US presidents' authorization of covert foreign-imposed regime change operations (FIRCs), arguing that congressional attention to covert action alters the Executive's calculus by increasing the political costs associated with this secretive policy instrument. It shows that congressional attention is the result of institutional battles over abuses of executive authority and has a significant constraining effect independent of codified rules and partisan disputes. These propositions are tested using content analysis of the Congressional Record, statistical analysis of Cold War covert FIRCs, and causal-process evidence relating to covert interventions in Chile, Angola, Central America, Afghanistan, etc.
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781009598019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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Tip-toeing through the Tulips with Congress
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Tip-toeing through the Tulips with Congress
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Tip-toeing through the Tulips with Congress
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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