The Psychology of Stickiness: What the U.S. Can Learn from its Annexation of the Philippines in 1898

Why is it so hard to let go? It is an enduring puzzle of U.S. foreign relations. It is hardly original to point out the sprawling collection of U.S. military installations and personnel abroad, but why is it so hard to reduce that military footprint, especially when so many presidents come into power wanting to do so? Today, I'd like to discuss U.S. President William McKinley's annexation of the Philippines in 1898 which sheds light on one important cause of "stickiness": a common psychological bias called the Endowment Effect. In exploring this concept, it enriches our understanding of why it can be so hard to let go. ​Aroop Mukharji is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He received his PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University, where he studied American foreign policy and presidential decision-making in the William McKinley (1897-1901) and Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909) administrations. He has hosted several podcasts, including Snack Break, the Belfer Center's foreign policy podcast at the Harvard Kennedy School (called Office Hours), and another podcast for the NGO Sense and Sustainability. He published a book on education and diplomacy in 2016 with Palgrave Macmillan, and has published foreign policy opinion pieces in War on the Rocks, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Yale Journal of International Affairs, and The New Republic. His academic research has been published by Negotiation Journal and The Journal of Applied History.