American Foreign Policy Domestic Context and Foreign Policy: Interest Group, News Media, and Public Opinion

I Interest Group Formal organizations of people who share a common outlook or social circumstance and who band together in the hope of influencing government policy.

A Typology of Foreign Policy Interest Groups Type General examples Economic groups AFL-CIO（trade union）；National Association of Manufactures; Consumer Federation of America; Major multinational corporations (MNCs) Identity groups Jewish Americans; Cuban Americans; Greek Americans, African Americans Political issue groups Anti-Vietnam War movement; Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch; World Wildlife Fund; Refugees International State and local governments Local Elected Officials for Social Responsibility; California World Trade Commission Foreign governments Washington law firms; lobbyists; public-relations companies (hired to promote interests of foreign governments in Washington)

Strategies and Techniques of Influence 1. Influencing Congress 2. Influencing the Executive Branch 3. Influencing Public Opion 4. Corruption

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning -”Farewell Address”Jan.1961 The conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry in new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government….We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, our resources and livelihood all are involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

II News Media The Impact of News Media： Cheerleader or Critic?

Mode of Influece 1、agenda setting 2、shaping public opinion 3、influence directly on policy-makers

Freedom of the Press vs. National Security 1. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press. 2、If certain information became public, national security would be endangered. 3. balance?

III Public Opinion Is the public ignorant toward foreign policy? Only 58%of the public in 1964 knew that the US was a member of NATO, and 38% thought the Soviet Union was. Only 4 months after the dramatic ceremony held on Sept. 13, 1993, on the White House lawn with President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat, 56% of Americans could not identify the group that Arafat headed. In 2006, 3 years into the Iraq war, only 37% of young adults could locate Iraq on a map?

The Influence of Public Opinion on Foreign Policy 1、parameter setting 2、centripetal pull 3、impact on Congress 4、to affect diplomatic negotiations 5、presidential elections Public opinion ← → Foreign policy