Introduction

Abstract

This is a study of political communication in the Liberal democratic state and how media pressure on the executive may affect state conduct in international relations. It examines this vast subject through the narrow theme of media pressure on the decision making of executives vis-à-vis security concerns. In beginning this inquiry into possible media influence, it soon became evident that to understand the significance of one voice, like that of the media, in the cacophony of Liberal democratic discussion it was necessary to ask how any voice, at all, could actually matter. From outside the war room, how can one elicit a response from inside it? To answer this question is to shed light on the decision-making processes of Liberal democratic governments and, even further, how that process might affect the conduct of these societies in the international theater as a whole.