Abstracts

In the literature, scholars have linked various aspects of the economic philosophy of neoliberalism to a variety of foreign policy behaviors. However, these studies typically only utilize one aspect of neoliberalism in their analyses. In this dissertation, I examine three types of foreign policy behaviors, foreign aid efforts, economic sanctioning behavior, and interstate conflict onset, using a multi-faceted definition of neoliberalism. By using this definition to create proxies, I provide a more comprehensive analysis of the effect of neoliberalism on behaviors. Further, this definition allows me to include individual level factors capture the effect of leadership on foreign policy behaviors. In three empirical chapters, I examine the effect of neoliberalism on behavior and generally find results matching my expectations.Advisors/Committee Members: Drury, A. Cooper (advisor).