Foreign Strikes as Domestic Leverage

A targeted external strike on a regime’s strategic assets can be used by foreign leaders to alter the domestic political calculus inside that country—weakening coercive apparatuses, changing elite incentives, or creating bargaining space for external actors—without necessarily triggering regime collapse. The effectiveness depends on the regime’s resilience, the reach of its coercive networks, and whether protests can broaden beyond urban centers. — This reframes debates about limited military action: strikes are not only military choices but instruments of political leverage that can shape protest cycles, elite defections, and the prospects for either escalation or negotiated outcomes.