Congressional Diplomacy and Commercial Representation

• In Event: Poster Session: International Political Economy 1 & Migration and Citizenship
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: International Political Economy 1

Abstract

Why and when do legislators conduct diplomacy? Diplomacy is often framed as a strategy used by Executives and heads of states. I argue that non-Executive elites also use diplomacy to generate consequential international outcomes. More specifically, electorally motivated legislators can use diplomacy as a way to represent constituent interests and facilitate economic returns directly from international actors. I test this by using an original panel dataset of congressional travel to and agricultural exports from top agricultural export destinations from 2003-2010. I find evidence for the export promotion effect of congressional diplomacy, especially for states that are economically dependent on agricultural exports. I also argue that legislators will be more incentivized to conduct diplomacy when they are overlooked or less likely to receive these benefits through traditional Executive branch diplomacy.

Author

• Rachel Q Yu, University of California, San Diego