Download or read book Democracies and Foreign Policy written by Bernard Cecil Cohen and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Democracies and Foreign Policy, however, Bernard Cohen offers the first detailed comparison of two Western democracies--the United States and the Netherlands--and their patterns of public participation in foreign policy. To assess the influence of citizens on the foreign policies of each nation, he examines the institutions that both shape and express public opinion--national legislative bodies, media of communication, organized interest groups--and searches for the roots of these institutions in the national political systems. Cohen's thought-provoking results demand a reassessment of aspects of foreign-policy making that have been taken for granted in each of these countries. Cohen finds, for example, that within the United States the media have significant power in setting agendas, while the political parties remain relatively mute on foreign-policy issues. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, the media have a lesser role, with the government instead sampling the opinion of the more outspoken political parties and party members. The Dutch Foreign Ministry, remaining walled off from the public, has a much freer hand in foreign policy. Cohen also finds that the U.S. State Department is much more sensitive to public opinion than its Dutch counterpart but, surprisingly, is less successful in understanding and coping with demands from its public.
Download or read book Public Participation in Foreign Policy written by J. Headley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-03-02 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts from academia, governments, think tanks, NGOs, trade unions, and business investigate whether the public should play a greater role in foreign policy making by analysing their current role in the Iraq war (USA), Post-Apartheid (South Africa), trade relations with China (New Zealand) and other cases.
Download or read book Every Citizen a Statesman written by David Allen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-10 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As US power grew after WWI, officials and nonprofits joined to promote citizen participation in world affairs. David Allen traces the rise and fall of the Foreign Policy Association, a public-education initiative that retreated in the atomic age, scuttling dreams of democratic foreign policy and solidifying the technocratic national security model.
Download or read book Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy written by Ole R. Holsti and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the role of public opinion in the conduct of foreign relations.
Download or read book The Foreign Policy Disconnect written by Benjamin I. Page and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 739 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With world affairs so troubled, what kind of foreign policy should the United States pursue? Benjamin Page and Marshall Bouton look for answers in a surprising place: among the American people. Drawing on a series of national surveys conducted between 1974 and 2004, Page and Bouton reveal that—contrary to conventional wisdom—Americans generally hold durable, coherent, and sensible opinions about foreign policy. Nonetheless, their opinions often stand in opposition to those of policymakers, usually because of different interests and values, rather than superior wisdom among the elite. The Foreign Policy Disconnect argues that these gaps between leaders and the public are harmful, and that by using public opinion as a guideline policymakers could craft a more effective, sustainable, and democratic foreign policy. Page and Bouton support this argument by painting a uniquely comprehensive portrait of the military, diplomatic, and economic foreign policies Americans favor. They show, for example, that protecting American jobs is just as important to the public as security from attack, a goal the current administration seems to pursue single-mindedly. And contrary to some officials’ unilateral tendencies, the public consistently and overwhelmingly favors cooperative multilateral policy and participation in international treaties. Moreover, Americans’ foreign policy opinions are seldom divided along the usual lines: majorities of virtually all social, ideological, and partisan groups seek a policy that pursues the goals of security and justice through cooperative means. Written in a clear and engaging style, The Foreign Policy Disconnect calls, in an original voice, for a more democratic approach to creating such a policy.
Download or read book Every Citizen a Statesman written by David Allen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-10 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surprising story of the movement to create a truly democratic foreign policy by engaging ordinary Americans in world affairs. No major arena of US governance is more elitist than foreign policy. International relations barely surface in election campaigns, and policymakers take little input from Congress. But not all Americans set out to build a cloistered foreign policy “establishment.” For much of the twentieth century, officials, activists, and academics worked to foster an informed public that would embrace participation in foreign policy as a civic duty. The first comprehensive history of the movement for “citizen education in world affairs,” Every Citizen a Statesman recounts an abandoned effort to create a democratic foreign policy. Taking the lead alongside the State Department were philanthropic institutions like the Ford and Rockefeller foundations and the Foreign Policy Association, a nonprofit founded in 1918. One of the first international relations think tanks, the association backed local World Affairs Councils, which organized popular discussion groups under the slogan “World Affairs Are Your Affairs.” In cities across the country, hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered in homes and libraries to learn and talk about pressing global issues. But by the 1960s, officials were convinced that strategy in a nuclear world was beyond ordinary people, and foundation support for outreach withered. The local councils increasingly focused on those who were already engaged in political debate and otherwise decried supposed public apathy, becoming a force for the very elitism they set out to combat. The result, David Allen argues, was a chasm between policymakers and the public that has persisted since the Vietnam War, insulating a critical area of decisionmaking from the will of the people.
Download or read book The Making of US Foreign Policy written by John Dumbrell and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully revised and updated, this new edition analyses the relationship between the process and substance of US foreign policy since the mid 1960s.
Download or read book The Public s Impact on Foreign Policy written by Bernard Cecil Cohen and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Foreign Policy written by Paul Viotti and published by Polity. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world’s only superpower, America’s foreign policy inevitably has a major impact Ð be it positive or negative - on contemporary international affairs. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, George W. Bush’s decision to move away from multilateral decision-making toward a more aggressive, pre-emptive style of foreign policy attracted widespread debate, and criticism, throughout the world. Reversing direction, the Barack Obama presidency is placing greater emphasis on constructive or peaceful engagement within multilateral frameworks, relying on special envoys to deal with some of the thorniest problems. In this book, Paul Viotti explores American foreign policy from the founding of the republic in the late 18th Century to the present day. Part 1 examines the broad policy options available to the US government: namely, peaceful engagement, containment through deterrence or coercive diplomacy, and armed intervention. Part 2 looks at the American experience in foreign policy. By exploring early precedents and elite practices, the moralism of American exceptionalism as well as the roots of an expansionist American foreign policy, the discussion draws out the continuities running from the 18th century to the present. Part 3 concludes with an analysis of the politics of interest on the Potomac with analysis of the interplay of contending policy elites, factions and parties influencing foreign policy making today. Assessing alternatives, the author concludes that even though containment and armed intervention will remain part of the way the United States conducts its foreign policy, diplomatic engagement options are the most promising course of action for the coming decades.
Download or read book Foreign Relations in Federal Countries written by Hans Michelmann and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2009-01-28 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreign Relations in Federal Countries addresses questions such as: What constitutional powers do the federal governments and constituent states have to conduct foreign affairs? To what degree are relations between orders of government regularized by formal agreement or informal practice? What roles do constituent governments have in negotiation and implementation of international treaties? The volume offers a comparative perspective on the conduct of foreign relations in twelve federal countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.
Download or read book Public Thought and Foreign Policy written by Robert J. Kingston and published by . This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this collection of essays, seven contributors from diverse fields suggest that ordinary citizens are capable of reasoned public deliberation on matters of critical national importance. Drawing on experience from the 2003 National Issues Convention, this collection reveals that public deliberation is a sound and practical approach to working through difficult issues, one that can enrich and inform the dialogue of democracy.
Download or read book United States Foreign Policy written by Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The US Public and American Foreign Policy written by Andrew Johnstone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-06-10 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though often overlooked, public opinion has always played a significant role in the development and promotion of US foreign policy and this work seeks to comprehensively assess the impact and nature of that opinion through a collection of historical and contemporary essays. The volume evaluates the role of organizations and movements that look to represent public opinion, and assesses the nature of their relationship with the government. The contributors utilize a number of different approaches to examine this impact, including polling data, assessments of the role of the media, and the wider consideration of ideas and ideology, moving on to examine the specific role played by the public in the policy making and policy promotion process. Engaging with new questions as well as approaching old questions from a new angle, the work argues that whilst the roles change, and the extent of influence varies, the power of the public to both initiate and constrain foreign policy clearly exists and should not be underestimated. This work will be of great interest to all those with an interest in American foreign policy, American politics and American history.
Download or read book Beyond the Beltway written by Daniel Yankelovich and published by W W Norton & Company Incorporated. This book was released on 1994 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the end of the Cold War and the election of Bill Clinton as president, anxiety about America's economic future has replaced foreign affairs as the country's main concern. The United States needs to redefine its national security in terms of a strong domestic policy. But will this lead to a new isolationism that would weaken American ties to the world? In the absence of the stable public consensus that supported an anti-Communist foreign policy, U.S. leaders will need to forge a more direct dialogue with a skeptical public on which U.S. foreign interests they deem vital. In this new climate, how can American policy makers adapt to broaden public support for a strong foreign policy? In this collection of original essays, sponsored by the American Assembly, some of the nation's leading experts on foreign affairs assess the problem of building public involvement in foreign policy in the post-superpower era. Included is Daniel Yankelovich's and John Immerwahr's influential rendering of how to influence public opinion through a series of phased campaigns.
Download or read book The Participation Gap written by Russell J. Dalton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-06 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dilemma of democracy arises from two contrasting trends. More people in the established democracies are participating in civil society activity, contacting government officials, protesting, and using online activism and other creative forms of participation. At the same time, the importance of social status as an influence on political activity is increasing. The democratic principle of the equality of voice is eroding. The politically rich are getting richer-and the politically needy have less voice. This book assembles an unprecedented set of international public opinion surveys to identify the individual, institutional, and political factors that produce these trends. New forms of activity place greater demands on participants, raising the importance of social status skills and resources. Civil society activity further widens the participation gap. New norms of citizenship shift how people participate. And generational change and new online forms of activism accentuate this process. Effective and representative government requires a participatory citizenry and equal voice, and participation trends are undermining these outcomes. The Participation Gap both documents the growing participation gap in contemporary democracies and suggests ways that we can better achieve their theoretical ideal of a participatory citizenry and equal voice.
Download or read book The Role of the Public in U S Foreign Relations written by Harry Schuyler Foster and published by . This book was released on 1961 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book War and Democratic Constraint written by Matthew A. Baum and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-27 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do some democracies reflect their citizens' foreign policy preferences better than others? What roles do the media, political parties, and the electoral system play in a democracy's decision to join or avoid a war? War and Democratic Constraint shows that the key to how a government determines foreign policy rests on the transmission and availability of information. Citizens successfully hold their democratic governments accountable and a distinctive foreign policy emerges when two vital institutions—a diverse and independent political opposition and a robust media—are present to make timely information accessible. Matthew Baum and Philip Potter demonstrate that there must first be a politically potent opposition that can blow the whistle when a leader missteps. This counteracts leaders' incentives to obscure and misrepresent. Second, healthy media institutions must be in place and widely accessible in order to relay information from whistle-blowers to the public. Baum and Potter explore this communication mechanism during three different phases of international conflicts: when states initiate wars, when they respond to challenges from other states, or when they join preexisting groups of actors engaged in conflicts. Examining recent wars, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq, War and Democratic Constraint links domestic politics and mass media to international relations in a brand-new way.
