Who Gets the Guns? How Democratic Values and Security Threats Affect American Attitudes Toward Military Aid
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10071685 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sean Williamson (0000-0003-0769-6197, University of Oxford, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| 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 | 10.1177/00220027251388634 |
| OpenAlex | W4415644881 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 62 |
The United States gives substantial aid to the militaries of autocratic governments that abuse human rights. US officials claim this aid is necessary to manage security threats, but others argue the United States should prioritize aid for governments that reflect democratic values. How do these competing concerns shape Americans’ attitudes toward military aid? Through an experiment implemented on four surveys, I document a strong preference for aiding democracies that respect human rights, and this preference is robust to the presence of terrorism threats. However, internationalist Americans become especially less likely to prioritize democratic values when terrorist threats exist. Descriptive survey questions reinforce this pattern by showing how internationalists who support military aid the most are conflicted proponents of prioritizing democratic values in US foreign policy. The article extends research on attitudes toward foreign aid and illustrates an important limitation to the influence of democratic values on Americans’ foreign policy preferences
Sailing the Water's Edge
Public Opinion and Foreign Aid
Regimes of the World (RoW)
US Military Aid and Recipient State Cooperation
Liberal Internationalism 3.0
Who cares about human rights? Public opinion about human rights foreign policy
The effect of perceived threat on human rights
Lethal aid and human security
Ideology at the Water’s Edge
Commanding Support
The Center Still Holds
Soldiers' Dilemma
Civil Liberties vs. Security
Military Aid and Human Rights
Without Heirs? Assessing the Decline of Establishment Internationalism in U.S. Foreign Policy
Exporting Influence
U.S. Public Views of International Involvement from 1964 to 1993
Moral Support
Human Rights and Public Support for War
Bases, Bullets, and Ballots
The Structure of Foreign Policy Attitudes among American Leaders
Making Sense of Isolationism
Democratic Peace or Clash of Civilizations? Target States and Support for War in Britain and the United States
Human Rights Violations, Political Conditionality and Public Attitudes to Foreign Aid
The Determinants of US Public Opinion Towards Democracy Promotion
Information Equivalence in Survey Experiments
Fair-Weather Allies? Terrorism and the Allocation of US Foreign Aid
The Impact of Personal Security Dispositions on Citizen Support for the Pursuit of Gender Equality in US Foreign Policy
What’s Fair in International Politics? Equity, Equality, and Foreign Policy Attitudes
Foreign Policy and the Rational Public
American Public Attitudes toward Foreign Policy
Human Rights versus National Interests
Rewarding Human Rights? Selective Aid Sanctions against Repressive States
Foreign Policy Gaps between Citizens and Leaders
On the Foreign Policy Beliefs of the American People
Voters Get What They Want (When They Pay Attention)
Building democracy’ through foreign aid
Autocracies, democracies, and the violation of civil liberties
Coercive Capacity and the Prospects for Democratization
The Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East
Re‐Assessing Elite‐Public Gaps in Political Behavior
How Terrorism Does (and Does Not) Affect Citizens’ Political Attitudes
Authoritarianism, Threat, and Americans’ Support for the War on Terror
International Status Concerns and Domestic Support for Political Leaders
Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies
Gender Quotas and International Reputation
A Bottom‐Up Theory of Public Opinion about Foreign Policy
How Do People Evaluate Foreign Aid To ‘Nasty’ Regimes
Religion and Foreign Aid
The Public’s Foreign Aid Priorities
Norm Diffusion through US Military Training in Tunisia
US professional military education and democratization abroad
Trained to Torture? The Human Rights Effects of Military Training at the School of the Americas
When human capital threatens the Capitol
Contesting narratives of repression
Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace
All by Himself? Trump, Isolationism, and the American Electorate
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |