A diversionary foreign policy, or a diversionary war, is an International Relations term that identifies a war instigated by a country's leader in order to distract its population from their own domestic strife. The concept stems from the Diversionary War Theory, which states that leaders who are threatened by domestic turmoil occasionally initiate an international conflict in order to shift the nation's attention away from internal troubles. As a result, this external threat would counter the domestic strife and ensure the leader's position in power. Essentially, a diversionary use of force is a manipulation of the Rally Round the Flag Syndrome effect, causing an increase of national fervor from the general public.
Many scholars of International Relations have dedicated much research to the practical application of diversionary war. A large percentage investigates United States presidents and their disputed culpability partaking in diversionary foreign policy. Despite the immense amount of effort and research, scholars have not yet formed a consensus of the accuracy of the theory, and empirical evidence is mixed at best.
Read more about Diversionary Foreign Policy: Effects, Evolution, Conditions That Lead To Diversionary Foreign Policy, Impact On International Relation Approaches, Criticisms and Problems With The Theory
Famous quotes containing the words foreign and/or policy:
“We should meet each morning, as from foreign countries, and spending the day together, should depart at night, as into foreign countries.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“U.S. international and security policy ... has as its primary goal the preservation of what we might call “the Fifth Freedom,” understood crudely but with a fair degree of accuracy as the freedom to rob, to exploit and to dominate, to undertake any course of action to ensure that existing privilege is protected and advanced.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)