Foreign Policy

Puzzle of American Foreign Policy

Realism, Idealism and Isolationism

Realism assumes countries want to increase their

own power

Zero-sum game and self-interest

Idealism assumes countries want to work together Strong international institutions Isolationism argues that a country stays out of

international affairs

Tools of Foreign Policy: Basic Tools

Bilateral diplomacy Intelligence gathering Multilateral diplomacy Trading relationships Foreign Aid Goals of foreign aid

Top Recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid, 2009

CONCEPT MAP

Election outcomes In making The resulting foreign also influence policy, policies leaders include must foreign policy by is respond diplomacy, to which world determining which events decided mainly that are on party and whichof usually by the president outside and ideology are such as their the executive control, dominant in the actions branch, as well of foreign as government. governments. defense policy and trade policy, which are determined by both the president and Congress. Foreign aid is normally determined by Congress.

Understanding Foreign Policy Attitudes

Scholars have found that foreign policy attitudes,

much like domestic policy attitudes are shaped by values and predispositions, not self-interest.

Peoples attitudes towards foreign policy are more the product of existing beliefs about how the world should work than they are of how the policy will effect them personally.

Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Scholars have argued that unlike domestic policy

attitudes, foreign policy attitudes are far less stable.

Almond 1950

Foreign policy attitudes amongst most Americans lack intellectual structure and factual content. Under normal circumstances the American public has tended to be indifferent to questions of foreign policy because their remoteness from every day interests and activitiesForeign policy, save moments of great crisis, has to labor under a handicap; it has to shout loudly to be heard even a little.
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Is there structure in foreign policy attitudes?

Hurwitz and Peffley (1987)

Foreign policy attitudes are structured by core values, which influence general postures, which influence specific issue preferences.
Core Values

General Postures

Specific Issue Preferences

Core Values

Morality of Warfare Beliefs about the morality of killing in warfare. Ethnocentrism A belief that ones country is superior to all others.

General Postures
Anticommunism Beliefs about the appropriate posture of the United States toward Communist-bloc countries. Isolationism A general desire that the government avoid any ties or entanglements with other countries, whatever the nature of the relationship. Militarism A desire that the government assume an assertive, militant foreign-policy posture through military strength.

Core Values and General Posture

Morality of Warfare contributes to contributes to

militarism while decreasing support for isolationism.

Ethnocentrism contributes to stronger support for

militarism, isolationism and anticommunism.

General Postures and Specific Policy Preferences

Anticommunism supports sending troops overseas and

restricting foreign imports.

Opposes cultural relations with foreign antagonists.

Isolationism leads to opposition to committing troops

overseas and cultural relations with foreign antagonists

Supports increased trade barriers to protect U.S. jobs and increased military spending.

Militarism supports defense spending and sending

troops overseas.

Opposes any policies that would lead to the US reducing it nuclear arsenal.

Morality and Support for War

Liberman (2006) finds that peoples support for

moral retributivism leads to more hawkish attitudes

Those who support the death penalty were more likely to support both of the invasions of Iraq in 1991 and 2003. Framing military action as a battle of good vs. evil leads to greater support from those who support policies, such as the death penalty.

Axis of Evil

Globalization

Giddens (1990, 64)

The intensification of world-wide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away

Attitudes Towards Globalization

Stopler-Samuelson Theorem Trade openness benefits those owing factors of production with which their economy is relatively well endowed while hurting others.

High skilled workers perceive trade openness as a benefit, while unskilled or workers with no skills perceive trade openness as a burden and threat. Those with higher levels of education and training, such as the college educated, are more supportive of globalization than those with lower levels of education.

Education and Globalization Attitudes?

Hainmueller and Hiscox (2006) argue that

education influences attitudes along other lines.

Education increases information about economic theory, which leads to increased support for globalization. Education decreases nationalistic attitudes

Nationalist attitudes decrease support for globalization.

Domestic Issues and Foreign Policy

Milner and Tingley (2011) examine roll call votes to

understand how domestic issues shape foreign policy.

For any choice of foreign policy, there will be winners and losers at the domestic level; what one player values, another may discount (Bates 1997). Foreign policy tools thus have a domestic political component.

Hypotheses
H1. Presidential influence and foreign policy concerns:

Legislators should be more likely to support economic aid and trade liberalization if the policy has the endorsement of the president who shares their party affiliation human (or physical) capital in a district, the higher the probability that the legislator votes in favor of trade liberalization and foreign aid. district are, the greater the probability that the legislator votes in favor of trade liberalization but the less likely the legislator votes in favor of foreign aid

H2. Economic interests: The greater the endowment of

H3. Ideology: The more conservative the members of a

Findings
When the president voices support for trade liberalization,

members of his party will vote in favor of it.

However, this does not extend to support for economic aid.

Legislators from districts with high levels of human capital are

more likely to vote in favor trade liberalization and foreign aid.

Groups well endowed with capital support international engagement through trade and aid; they are perhaps the core of the internationalist coalition that allows greater substitution among foreign economic policies.

Legislators from left leaning districts are more supportive of

aid, while those from conservative districts support trade liberalization.

What does this all mean?

For the aid votes, ideology and skill produce

substantial changes in the probability of voting. For trade, the influence of the president is much more sizeable.

Democratic presidents are more effective at convincing Democratic legislators to vote in favor of trade, while Republican presidents are more effective at convincing Republican legislators to vote for aid.