The Politics of the Difficult: Congress, Public Opinion, and Early Cold War Aid and Trade Policies

• Autores: Michael A. Bailey
• Localización: Legislative studies quarterly, ISSN 0362-9805, Vol. 28, N. 2, 2003, págs. 147-177
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Many foreign policies central to American cold war efforts were politically difficult. Understanding the politics behind these policies is important for understanding the capacity of democracies to implement difficult but strategically important policies. I argue that we must recognize the important role of public opinion. When the public is unified, popular preferences permeate and dominate the entire political system. For the case of the early cold war, I present quantitative evidence that public attitudes about national security influenced Senate voting on security aid and trade issues. My tests employ previously unused opinion data and take advantage of methodological advances in the analysis of panel data.