Why Leaders Lie
Leaders lie to their own publics more than to each other, because the costs run the other way.
A short study of international deception, and Mearsheimer’s finding is counterintuitive: leaders lie to their own publics far more often than to each other, because lying to another state carries costs that lying at home usually does not. He is careful to separate lying from spinning and concealment, and the resulting taxonomy is more useful than the headline claim.
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