World War II spanned the globe and shaped political decisions in dozens of countries. For the purposes of this question, we’ll consider only domestic politics and we’ll confine the discussion to the political decisions that precipitated the United States’ entry into WWII.
The United States fought WWII in two theaters, in the Pacific against Japan and in Europe against Germany and Italy. Franklin Roosevelt was president throughout the conflict and had to grapple with political and policy decisions unique to each theater of the war.
Decisions surrounding the war against Japan
In 1937 Japan invaded China and a swath of Pacific islands, seizing territory and greatly expanding its sphere of influence. The United States was on good terms with China but FDR couldn’t risk direct action because he didn’t want to alienate a Congress that favored neutrality. FDR decided to impose trade sanctions which gave the appearance of action but didn’t anger domestic isolationists.
On September 27, 1940, Japan entered into an alliance with Nazi Germany and fascist-controlled Italy (the Tripartite pact) which allowed the three nations to cooperate to further their respective ambitions. FDR now had a freer hand to act because the American electorate had come to see Hitler as an enemy, and Japan, by association, became an enemy too. FDR took advantage of this swing in popular opinion and began sending weapons and supplies to China. Seeing FDR’s posture in the Pacific as a direct threat to its ambitions, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941. For FDR, Congress, and the American people, the decision to declare war was the only possible response.
Decisions surrounding the war in Europe
Since 1937, Nazi Germany and Italy had been aggressively taking territory in central Europe and North Africa but met with little resistance from France, Britain, and the United States. FDR was under no direct pressure to act until the Tripartite pact made it impossible to declare war on Japan without also declaring war on Germany and Italy. Germany’s subsequent invasion of France made it impossible for FDR to avoid the conflict given that the United States, Britain, and France were long-time allies.
Short of mobilizing American soldiers, FDR began sending military equipment and financial support to Britain. He also instituted the draft and committed enormous resources to expanding the American military. These decisions signaled that the US was fully committed to defeating Germany and Japan.
Unlike previous wars, the American public began to see newsreels showing the atrocities being committed in Asia and in Europe, and the radio brought first-hand accounts of the war into every living room. FDR made use of these technologies to sell his political decisions to the American people by speaking on the radio and by harnessing patriotic, pro-war newsreels.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/lend-lease
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-tripartite-pact-is-signed-by-germany-italy-and-japan
It seems that this question is asking what political situations impacted the outbreak of war. The main political development that led to World War II was the rise to power of dictatorships in Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, as well as a militaristic regime in Japan. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were especially aggressive militarily, and their attempts to expand their possessions destabilized Europe and the Pacific, respectively. The Soviet Union, too, was viewed as a major threat by many Western powers, a fact that accounts for their inaction in the face of Hitler's expansion. Another major political development was the breakdown of the League of Nations, an international organization that was supposed to be a forum for peacefully resolving conflicts. It was almost totally ineffectual in dealing with the threats posed by Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Japan. Finally, another key political development was the isolationist stance taken by the United States. The fact that the most powerful nation in the world was not willing to take a firmer stance in the face of aggression was a major reason that Germany in particular was able to behave as it did.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii
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