Democratic leaders are highly selective about wars, choosing fights they believe they will almost certainly win, because losing a war nearly guarantees they are deposed — and when a war goes badly they increase effort (double up) because winning is the public good that matters.

causalpending

Speaker

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Evidence Quote

they are very selective about choosing fights where they believe going in that their probability of victory is a near certainty

Source

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Democracies and Dictatorships 2/12/2007EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:20:39 AM

My Notes

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