Backing Out or Backing In? Commitment and Consistency in Audience Costs Theory

Audience costs theory posits that domestic publics punish leaders for making an external threat and then backing down. One key mechanism driving this punishment involves the value the public places on consistency between their leaders’ statements and actions. If true, this mechanism should operate not only when leaders fail to implement threats, but also when they fail to honor promises to stay out of a conflict. We use a survey experiment to examine domestic responses to the president's decision to “back down” from public threats and “back into” foreign conflicts. We find the president loses support in both cases, but suffers more for “backing out” than “backing in.” These differential consequences are partially explained by asymmetries in the public's treatment of new information. Our findings strongly suggest that concerns over consistency undergird audience costs theory and that punishment for inconsistency will be incurred, regardless of the leader's initial policy course.     

Regional Integration in ASEAN: Institutional Design and the ASEAN Way

This paper investigates regional integration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by analyzing the agreements developed within the ASEAN framework since its founding in 1967. This examination reveals that, although integration in ASEAN is certainly influenced by norms and values, the integration process can be best understood by intergovernmentalism. While many agreements have been developed within the ASEAN framework and have become more legalistic in nature, they tend to mostly be in functional areas and exhibit low levels of transparency and delegation. The design of ASEAN is indicative of an overriding concern for state sovereignty as a key strategic interest for member states.     

Fault,Gender Politics and Family Law Reform

Recent public debates about family law reform have revealed both support for and criticism of legislative policies that seek to shape social norms. Amidst this debate was a suggestion from some quarters that the Whitlam Government's removal of fault‐based divorce is responsible for the gendered tensions that characterise modern reform debates. This article draws on archival records and interviews conducted with family law professionals who worked in the system in the 1970s and experienced the transition to the no‐fault system, to explore the principles underlying the introduction of the Family Law Act of 1975 and to identify the sources of continuing dissension about its impact.