Too Pacifist in Peace, Too Bellicose in War
Political Information and Foreign Policy Opinion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10071487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benjamin O Fordham (0000-0002-2558-3631, Department of Political Science, Binghamton University (SUNY), NY, USA, corresponding author), Katja B Kleinberg (0000-0001-7133-521X, Department of Political Science, Binghamton University (SUNY), NY, USA) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1828-1856 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022002720912818 |
| OpenAlex | W3013848065 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 32 |
Scholars of public opinion and foreign policy recognize that the general public is poorly informed about international affairs, but they disagree about whether and how this fact affects the policies that it will support. Some argue that the lack of information has little effect, at least in the aggregate, while others hold that political information mediates attention to elite cues. We investigate a third line of argument in which political information has a direct effect on the policy options individuals support. Low levels of political information give rise to a pattern of complacency toward likely international threats in times of relative peace and a contrasting tendency to support violent and aggressive policy options during war or acute crises. We test this argument using survey data from two relevant historical settings: the American entry into World War II and the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks
Argument (complex analysis · Development economics · Economics · Elite · Foreign policy · Foreign policy analysis · International relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Terrorism · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Medicine
What Americans know about politics and why it matters
The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion
In Time of War
The Rational Public
The American people and foreign policy
Foreign Policy Analysis
Essays in the Public Philosophy, by Walter Lippmann
The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics
The Psychology of Survey Response
Democracy for Realists
Don’t Know Much about Foreign Policy
Civil Liberties vs. Security
The Myth of the Rational Voter
The Historical Alternation of Moods in American Foreign Policy
Threat Perception and American Support for Torture
Foreign Policy and the Rational Public
The Pretty Prudent Public
Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Economic Interests and Public Support for American Global Activism
Learning to Love Globalization
Is the public's ignorance of politics trivial
Essays in the Public Philosophy
Communism, Conformity, and Civil Liberties
How are Foreign Policy Attitudes Structured? A Hierarchical Model
Political Ignorance and Collective Policy Preferences
"Further Reflections on "The Elitist Theory of Democracy
Information Effects in Collective Preferences
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |