Conclusion

This concluding chapter summarizes the findings of the experiments and case studies in the previous chapters, discussing their implications for the study of reputation for resolve and the debate between reputation supporters and skeptics. The evidence from across the experiments and case studies shows that leaders can indeed acquire individual reputations for resolve. While these reputations are rooted in a leader's statements and behavior, they can be influenced by certain contextual factors—primarily a preexisting state reputation for resolve and the state's strategic interest in an issue under dispute. Yet, these two contextual factors influence leader reputations by interacting with a leader's own statements and behavior. Moreover, these leader-specific reputational assessments can affect the negotiating and crisis bargaining strategies individual leaders pursue. Leaders, therefore, are not wrong to care about their personal reputations for resolve or to believe that their reputations for resolve influence international politics. The chapter then explains how policymakers can best communicate their resolve to make themselves and their states less vulnerable to international threats.