International History and the Study of Public Opinion

Towards Methodological Clarity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12049615
AutoresDaniel Hucker (0000-0003-3577-8843, Schlumberger (Ireland), autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume34
Fascículo4
Páginas775-794
Data de publicação2012-08-23
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe International History Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0707-5332 • E-ISSN: 1949-6540
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07075332.2012.690194
OpenAlexW2009710246
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas6

International historians have long been fascinated by public opinion and its influence on policymaking, citing it frequently as one of the many factors that inform foreign policy choices. However, historians – and international historians in particular – have yet to develop any substantial or rigorous methodological frameworks capable of revealing the actual influence of popular opinion at the highest levels of diplomatic policy. This article intends to redress this deficiency by outlining a methodological approach that elucidates the role of public opinion in the decision-making process. In so doing, it will also explore the tensions between different approaches to the study of international history, notably the apparent divergence between traditional ‘diplomatic’ history on the one hand and the more theoretically-diffuse ‘international’ history on the other. The conceptual framework forwarded here will suggest that the two approaches need not be in opposition, at least when seeking to explain the formative role of public opinion on foreign policymaking. Indeed, the careful application of inter-disciplinary theoretical frameworks not only enriches our understanding of international history in its totality, but also reveals much about the diplomatic fulcrum of our discipline

CLARITY · Foreign policy · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Redress · Sociology · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · Law