ABSTRACT
Is the traditional distinction between international relations and domestic politics dead? Perhaps. Asking the question presupposes that it once fit reality, which is dubious. Nonetheless, the two branches of political science have at the very least differing sensibilities. Each may look at the same subject matter without asking the same questions. The international relations specialist wants to explain foreign policy and international politics. He cares about the domestic system insofar as it is useful for that purpose. He may, if dissatisfied with pure international system explanations, make his own exploration into domestic politics, a voyage which can frequently bring back discoveries (such as Allison's Essence of Decision1) most useful to the comparativists. Still, the ultimate goal of the trip remains the understanding of international dynamics. Domestic structure for the "I.R." person is an independent or intervening variable and sometimes an irrelevant one. 2 Most of the literature concerned with the interaction of the international system and domestic structure is authored by writers with international concerns, and that literature therefore primarily looks at the arrows that flow from domestic structure toward international relations.
