ABSTRACT
Two-level games are particularly difficult to play successfully when, as is often the case, the gains from international cooperation are widespread but diffuse and the costs are concentrated on a particular social sector. The two-level game metaphor calls special attention to the role of the chief executive, forced to balance and integrate domestic and international concerns. Across the international table from each leader sit foreign counterparts, and around a second table behind this leader sit spokespersons for key domestic interests-business, labor, legislators, coalition partners, “public opinion,” and so on. The future of the world political economy will be determined by the tension between two fundamental imperatives: the powerful steady trend toward global economic integration and the equally powerful persistence of political fragmentation. The potential for irresponsible action and inaction by political leaders is troubling. It may well cause growing difficulties in transatlantic relations, as it already has in the case of the US budget deficit.
