EARS Issue 3: Public Opinion and U.S. Diplomacy

Overview

EAI's public opinion analysis report, EARS Issue 3, "Public Opinion and U.S. Diplomacy: Dilemmas and Choices in Bush's Second-Term Foreign Policy," has been published. This report, co-authored by Professor Kim Sung-han of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security and Senior Researcher Jeong Han-wool of EAI, notes that critical public opinion regarding U.S. international intervention has been escalating in the United States following Bush's re-election, and anti-Bush sentiment is rapidly increasing globally. It particularly emphasizes that significant cracks are appearing even within conservative respondent groups regarding the Bush administration's second-term policy of "democratization of the Middle East." The report empirically demonstrates how these shifts in public opinion are acting as constraints on the Bush administration's foreign policy.

This report holds significant value as an empirical study, utilizing data from the "3-Nation Foreign Perception Survey - Global Views 2004," jointly planned in 2004 by EAI, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, and the Mexican Center for Educational Studies and Research on Economics. It also incorporates data from the "Global Issue Monitor 2005 - 23-Nation Survey," conducted by EAI as part of its participation in the GlobalScan international public opinion survey consortium, led by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

"The '9/11 shock' led to a societal consensus prioritizing homeland security and the war on terror as the nation's top policy objectives. However, this societal consensus has rapidly weakened following the Iraq War. Particularly, the issue of democratization in the Middle East, emphasized by the Bush administration, is showing signs of division even within conservative and neo-conservative circles, thus acting as a serious dilemma for the Bush administration's second-term foreign policy strategy." (From the text)

Authors

Kim Sung-han, Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security

Jeong Han-wool, Deputy Director, EAI Public Opinion Analysis Center