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Culture and Preferences in the International Cooperation Two-Step

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Jeffrey W. Legro
Jeffrey W. Legro*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Abstract

Rational choice analyses of international cooperation have slighted the effect of state preference formation and the influence of cultural forces in that process. This article addresses these gaps by developing an explanation that specifies how organizational cultures of bureaucracies shape state aims and international outcomes. This approach is evaluated in a set of least likely cases—decisions on the use of force in war—where the conventional wisdom expects external material, not internal cultural, concerns to dominate. Before World War II, countries agreed to limit the use of three types of warfare, but during that conflict mutual restraint was maintained in only one. I show how this variation is best understood as a product of state preference dynamics, shaped largely by the collective beliefs and customs of military services. This result suggests ways to rethink the use of the preferences-interaction model and the role of cultural factors in that framework.

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Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 118 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1996

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