Articles by Stacie Goddard
This introductory framing paper theorizes the role of legitimation—the public justification of po... more This introductory framing paper theorizes the role of legitimation—the public justification of policy—in the making of grand strategy. We contend that the process of legitimation has significant and independent effects on grand strategy’s constituent elements and on how grand strategy is formulated and executed. Legitimation is integral to how states define the national interest and identify threats, to how the menu of policy options is consti- tuted, and to how audiences are mobilized. Second, we acknowl- edge that legitimation matters more at some times than others, and we develop a model specifying the conditions under which it affects political processes and outcomes. We argue that the impact of legit- imation depends on the government’s need for mobilization and a policy’s visibility, and from the intersection of these two factors we derive five concrete hypotheses regarding when legitimation is most likely to have an impact on strategy. Finally, we explore who wins: why legitimation efforts sometimes succeed in securing public as- sent, yet at other times fall short. Our framework emphasizes what is said (the content of legitimation), how it is said (technique), and the context in which it is said. We conclude by introducing the papers in this special issue, revisiting the larger theoretical stakes involved in studying rhetoric and foreign policy, and speculating about how changes in the technologies and sites of communica- tion have, or have not, transformed legitimation and leadership in world politics.
Papers by Stacie Goddard
Cornell University Press eBooks, Feb 2, 2021
Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powe... more Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powers and great power strategies, 1815-2017 3. Placing the cases 4. European responses to Prussia's rise, 1863-64 This book looks at the ways actors attribute meaning to events, and like the events discussed in the book, the meaning of this study emerged from a lot of talk, conversations with colleagues and friends in which I attempted to justify my interest in nineteenth-century Prussia. I owe a huge debt to Lynn Eden for advice on turning my initial thoughts about this case into a fullblown book, and I was fortunate that Dan Nexon and Patrick Thaddeus Jackson invited me to present my work on Prussia at a forum on "realismconstructivism" at the Mershon Institute at The Ohio State University. After getting initial, incredibly insightful, and always skeptical input from participants in the workshop, I was hooked on a project about legitimacy and rising powers. I'm particularly thankful to Jennifer Mitzen, Randy Schweller, Bill Wohlforth, and Alex Wendt for pushing me on the project. While writing the book, I had several opportunities to present chapters, and I am grateful for participants in workshops at the
Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powe... more Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powers and great power strategies, 1815-2017 3. Placing the cases 4. European responses to Prussia's rise, 1863-64 This book looks at the ways actors attribute meaning to events, and like the events discussed in the book, the meaning of this study emerged from a lot of talk, conversations with colleagues and friends in which I attempted to justify my interest in nineteenth-century Prussia. I owe a huge debt to Lynn Eden for advice on turning my initial thoughts about this case into a fullblown book, and I was fortunate that Dan Nexon and Patrick Thaddeus Jackson invited me to present my work on Prussia at a forum on "realismconstructivism" at the Mershon Institute at The Ohio State University. After getting initial, incredibly insightful, and always skeptical input from participants in the workshop, I was hooked on a project about legitimacy and rising powers. I'm particularly thankful to Jennifer Mitzen, Randy Schweller, Bill Wohlforth, and Alex Wendt for pushing me on the project. While writing the book, I had several opportunities to present chapters, and I am grateful for participants in workshops at the
European Journal of International Security
How did the norm of discrimination become the dominant yardstick to measure the ethics of US airp... more How did the norm of discrimination become the dominant yardstick to measure the ethics of US airpower? Conventional accounts suggest that as elites and publics embraced norms of discrimination, this pushed US air forces to adopt a precision doctrine, one that demands accurately striking military, and not civilian, targets. Relying on a pragmatic reading of norm contestation and settling, we suggest that conventional explanations have the causal story reversed: it was not the strengthening of the norm of discrimination that led US air forces to commit to precision bombing. It was the commitment to precision bombing that led to the strengthening of the norm of discrimination. As precision technology became available during the interwar period, air-force officers co-opted the language of discrimination to justify their emerging doctrine. This co-optation of the language of discrimination would not only settle these norms as the guiding ethics of airpower. It would also transform them, ...
Legitimating Primacy After the Cold War
Before and After the Fall, 2021
Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powe... more Contents ix 1. Four worlds of rising power legitimation and great power strategies 2. Rising powers and great power strategies, 1815-2017 3. Placing the cases 4. European responses to Prussia's rise, 1863-64 Tables xi This book looks at the ways actors attribute meaning to events, and like the events discussed in the book, the meaning of this study emerged from a lot of talk, conversations with colleagues and friends in which I attempted to justify my interest in nineteenth-century Prussia. I owe a huge debt to Lynn Eden for advice on turning my initial thoughts about this case into a fullblown book, and I was fortunate that Dan Nexon and Patrick Thaddeus Jackson invited me to present my work on Prussia at a forum on "realismconstructivism" at the Mershon Institute at The Ohio State University. After getting initial, incredibly insightful, and always skeptical input from participants in the workshop, I was hooked on a project about legitimacy and rising powers. I'm particularly thankful to Jennifer Mitzen, Randy Schweller, Bill Wohlforth, and Alex Wendt for pushing me on the project.
Rhetoric, Legitimation, and Grand Strategy
Security Studies, 2015
This introductory framing paper theorizes the role of legitimation—the public justification of po... more This introductory framing paper theorizes the role of legitimation—the public justification of policy—in the making of grand strategy. We contend that the process of legitimation has significant and independent effects on grand strategy's constituent elements and on how grand strategy is formulated and executed. Legitimation is integral to how states define the national interest and identify threats, to how the menu of policy options is constituted, and to how audiences are mobilized. Second, we acknowledge that legitimation matters more at some times than others, and we develop a model specifying the conditions under which it affects political processes and outcomes. We argue that the impact of legitimation depends on the government's need for mobilization and a policy's visibility, and from the intersection of these two factors we derive five concrete hypotheses regarding when legitimation is most likely to have an impact on strategy. Finally, we explore who wins: why legitimation efforts sometimes succeed in securing public assent, yet at other times fall short. Our framework emphasizes what is said (the content of legitimation), how it is said (technique), and the context in which it is said. We conclude by introducing the papers in this special issue, revisiting the larger theoretical stakes involved in studying rhetoric and foreign policy, and speculating about how changes in the technologies and sites of communication have, or have not, transformed legitimation and leadership in world politics.
The Rhetoric of Appeasement: Hitler's Legitimation and British Foreign Policy, 1938–39
Security Studies, 2015
Few grand strategies have been more scrutinized than Britain's decision to appease Nazi Germa... more Few grand strategies have been more scrutinized than Britain's decision to appease Nazi Germany. From 1933 to 1938, Britain eschewed confrontation and attempted to settle German demands. However in the five months following the negotiations at Munich, the British abandoned appeasement and embraced a policy of confronting the German state. The roots of both appeasement and confrontation can be found in Germany's legitimation strategies. Until the Munich crisis, Adolf Hitler justified Germany's aims with appeals to collective security, equality, and self-determination—norms central to the European system established by the Treaty of Versailles. After Munich, in contrast, German politicians abandoned these legitimation strategies, arguing instead that expansion was justified as a matter of German might, and not international rights. As Britain came to see German demands as illegitimate, so too did they decide this revisionist state was insatiable, impervious to negotiation, and responsive only to the language of force.
When Right Makes Might: How Prussia Overturned the European Balance of Power
International Security, 2009
From 1864 to 1871, Prussia mounted a series of wars that fundamentally altered the balance of pow... more From 1864 to 1871, Prussia mounted a series of wars that fundamentally altered the balance of power in Europe. Yet no coalition emerged to check Prussia's rise. Rather than balance against Prussian expansion, the great powers sat on the sidelines and allowed the transformation of European politics. Traditionally, scholars have emphasized structural variables, such as mulitpolarity, or domestic politics as the cause of this “underbalancing.” It was Prussia's legitimation strategies, however—the way Prussia justified its expansion—that undermined a potential balancing coalition. As Prussia expanded, it appealed to shared rules and norms, strategically choosing rhetoric that would resonate with each of the great powers. These legitimation strategies undermined balancing coalitions through three mechanisms: by signaling constraint, laying rhetorical traps (i.e., framing territorial expansion in a way that deprived others states grounds on which to resist), and increasing ontolog...
International Relations, 2019
Issues involving ‘statecraft’ lie at the heart of most major debates about world politics, yet sc... more Issues involving ‘statecraft’ lie at the heart of most major debates about world politics, yet scholars do not go far enough in analyzing how the processes of statecraft themselves can reshape the international system. We draw on the growing relational-processual literature in international relations theory to explore how different modes of statecraft can help create and refashion the structure of world politics. In particular, we argue that scholars should reconceive statecraft in terms of repertoires. An emphasis on repertoires sheds light on a number of issues, including how statecraft influences patterns of technological innovation, the construction of institutional and normative orders, and the pathways through which states mobilize power in world politics.
Uploads
Articles by Stacie Goddard
Papers by Stacie Goddard