Replication Data for: "Why Do States Intervene in the Elections of Others? The Role of Incumbent-Opposition Divisions"

Why do states intervene in elections abroad? We argue that outsiders intervene when themain domestic contenders for office adopt policy positions that differ from the point of view ofthe outside power. We refer to the split between the government’s and opposition’s positionsas policy polarization. Polarization between domestic political forces, rather than the degree ofunfriendliness of the government in office, is what attracts interventions of two types: process(for or against democracy) and candidate (for or against the government) interventions. Weprovide a novel, original data set to track the policy positions of local contenders. We showthat the new policy polarization measurement outperforms a number of available alternativeswhen it comes to explaining process and candidate interventions. We use it to explain thebehavior of the United States as an intervener in elections over the period 1945 to 2012. TheUnited States is more likely to support the opposition, and the democratic process abroad,if a pro-US opposition is facing an anti-US government. It is is more likely to support thegovernment, and undermine the democratic process abroad, if a pro-US government is facingan anti-US opposition. We also present results for all interveners, confirming the results fromthe US case.