Replication Data for: Austerity and Aggression: Government Responses to IMF Conditionality

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers countries emergency financial support in exchange for the implementation of stringent policy conditions that often cause political and economic upheaval in target states. How do leaders in borrower countries respond to the backlash from publics and elites that often emerges in these cases? We argue that leaders seek to divert attention from economic issues under IMF conditionality by employing security-oriented rhetoric and sparking low-cost skirmishes internationally. Such diversionary tactics may help leaders to skirt blame for the short-term economic costs of IMF-imposed structural adjustment by driving a rally-around-the-flag effect. We pair text analysis of ruling party manifestos with regression analysis of the relationship between IMF conditionality and the initiation of interstate disputes, finding support for our argument.