The “Israel Lobby” and American Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6320201 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert C Lieberman (0000-0002-9677-8946, Office of International Affairs, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 235-257 |
| Publication date | 2009-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Perspectives on Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s153759270909077x |
| OpenAlex | W2167740784 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 92 |
In their recent book,The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt argue that American support for Israel does not serve American interests. Nevertheless, they observe that American foreign policy regarding the Middle East, especially in recent years, has tilted strongly toward support for Israel, and they attribute this support to the influence of the “Israel lobby” in American domestic politics. Their book is principally an attempt to make a causal argument about American politics and policymaking. I examine three aspects of this argument—its causal logic, the use of evidence to support hypotheses, and the argument's connection with the state of knowledge about American politics—and conclude that the case for the Israel lobby as the primary cause of American support for Israel is at best a weak one, although it points to a number of interesting questions about the mechanisms of power in American politics. Mearsheimer and Walt's propositions about the direct influence of the Israel lobby on Congress and the executive branch are generally not supported by theory or evidence. Less conclusive and more suggestive, however, are their arguments about the lobby's apparent influence on the terms and boundaries of legitimate debate and discussion of Israel and the Middle East in American policymaking. These directions point to an alternative approach to investigating the apparent influence of the Israel lobby in American politics, focusing less on direct, overt power over policy outcomes and more on more subtle pathways of influence over policy agendas and the terms of policy discourse
Argument (complex analysis · Economics · Foreign policy · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Politics of the United States · Positive economics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies
Rhetorical Diffusion and Policy Latency
Quiet advocacy
Identity, norms and the occupied mind
Voting in the UN General Assembly
Maktfaktor eller medløper? En revidering av Israel-lobbyen og amerikansk Midtøsten-politikk
The ‘Germany Lobby’ and US Foreign Policy
Divide and Rule
Thinking about the Role of Religion in Foreign Policy
Tangled up in rose? Theories of alliance entrapment and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War
Not So “Special Relationship”? US-Israel Relations During Barack Obama's Presidency
The Showdown That Wasn't
The Blind Man and the Elephant in the Room
Muslim Organisation and the Mobilisations for Sharia Law in northern Nigeria
Taxation and democracy
Political organizations
The un-politics of air pollution
Gaining access
Ideology and discontent
The governmental process
Power and Powerlessness
Participation in America
Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House
Forging Industrial Policy
Setting the Agenda
Information and Legislative Organization
Power
The Rational Public
Why Parties?
Race Politics in Britain and France
Mobilizing Interest Groups in America
Tides of Consent
Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise
Corporate PAC Campaign Contributions in Perspective
It's the Institutions, Stupid! Why Comprehensive National Health Insurance Always Fails in America
Long-Term Investing in Politicians; Or, Give Early, Give Often
Bowling alone
An economic theory of democracy
Community power and political theory
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
Uneasy Alliances
Veto Players
Filibuster
Politics in Time
The Calculus of Consent
Rethinking Social Inquiry
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
Pivotal Politics
The Making of New Deal Democrats
The Divided Welfare State
How Institutions Evolve
Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences
The Theory of Committees and Elections
Shaping Race Policy
On Democracy
The Logic of Collective Action
Power
Community Power Structure. A Study of Decision Makers
Why is There so Little Money in U.S. Politics
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
Interests, Institutions, and Positive Theory
Political resource allocation, controlled agendas, and the status quo
Structure-induced equilibrium and legislative choice
The rational voter
Congress, The Electoral Connection
Congress
Interest Groups in American Campaigns
The Industrial Organization of Congress; or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets
Campaign Contributions as Investments
Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Policy
Support Any Friend
Support Any Friend
Voice and Equality
Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Anti-Semitism in Europe
Estimating the Effect of Campaign Spending on Senate Election Outcomes Using Instrumental Variables
Who Influences U.S. Foreign Policy
American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory
Four Systems of Policy, Politics, and Choice
At the Court of Chaos
Asymmetric Information and Legislative Rules with a Heterogeneous
A Panel Probit Analysis of Campaign Contributions and Roll-Call Votes
Commitment and the Campaign Contribution Contract
The concept of power
Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States
Constituency Influence in Congress
The Butterfly Did It
Two Faces of Power
Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy
Ideas, Institutions, and Political Order
Privatizing Risk without Privatizing the Welfare State
Nondecisions and the Study of Local Politics
A Critique of the Ruling Elite Model
God's Country
Peasants into Frenchmen
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,76 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |