Foreign policy responds to external events through assumptions formed by domestic politics and experience. What happens abroad and what a government perceives to be happening can therefore differ. Familiarity with a country's own internal system shapes how its leaders interpret another state's actions. The argument applies to all sides, although the distance between an event and its perceived meaning varies.
Notable Point · 40:42-41:39
How domestic experience shapes foreign policy
Governments interpret external events through their domestic experience, which can produce different perceptions of the same situation.