In this working paper, the authors examine whether
foreign policy decision makers heed the views of the general public.
On the one hand there are those observers who have said no, asserting
that the public lacks the ability to make sensible decisions on
matters of national life and death; decision makers should pursue
the national interest according to their own best judgment, even
if that contradicts the public’s wishes. Others, including
the present authors, are much more optimistic about the public’s
capacity to form reasonable opinions.
The authors, however, will show with systematic
data what various examples in earlier work already suggested—that
over the last 30 years there have been many substantial disagreements
or “gaps” between foreign policy decision makers and
the U.S. public. Indeed, there has been something like a “disconnect”
between the two. Moreover, there has been no discernible tendency
for the gaps to narrow or disappear over time. They see this as
presenting serious problems for democratic values and as constituting
a challenge for formulating an effective foreign policy.
This working paper will be part of a forthcoming
book The Foreign Policy Disconnect: What Americans Want from
Our Leaders but Don’t Get (University of Chicago Press)
by Benjamin I. Page with Marshall M. Bouton.
Benjamin I. Page, Department
of Political Science, Northwestern University
Lawrence R. Jacobs, Department of Political
Science, University of Minnesota
Click on
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