Black and white attitudes toward force and cooperation in United States foreign policy (1980-1995).
Item
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Title
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Black and white attitudes toward force and cooperation in United States foreign policy (1980-1995).
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Identifier
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AAI9820552
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identifier
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9820552
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Creator
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Lawrence, Keith Oliver.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Asher Arian
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Political Science, General | History, Black | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | History, United States | Black Studies
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Abstract
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Historically, white and black Americans often have disagreed over U.S. internationalism, yet public opinion research has given scant attention to the impact of race on foreign policy attitudes. Arguing that centuries of denial of civil rights to African Americans prevented racial foreign policy consensus prior to the 1960s, this dissertation examines the proximity of black and white attitudes in the latter post-civil rights years. Using national opinion polls of attitudes related to the use of military force and foreign aid, and toward immigration and the United Nations, this study takes an initial step in exploring the state of black and white foreign consensus in the U.S. in recent decades.;For military force, the overall finding was racial attitudinal congruence within most standard socioeconomic and political categories. However, whites generally seemed more favorable toward force. Race appeared to be less significant in the non-coercive areas. There was a moderate-to-strong consensus of support for the U.N. as an organization, and equal ambivalence over its performance in specific functional areas. Blacks and whites appeared just as likely to be skeptical of the efficacy of foreign aid, and seemed equally apprehensive about the economic ramifications of immigration.;Nevertheless, there were some complexities and paradoxes in the racial responses that prevent acceptance of the consensus hypothesis, and call for further study. For instance, though African Americans were more critical of actual interventions, they often seemed more accepting of hypothetical force scenarios--particularly, those involving in the Third World. African Americans also seemed more convinced of the effectiveness and morality of force as a foreign policy tool. On the other hand, blacks were more willing to accept Third World immigrants as future Americans, despite fears about immigration's economic consequences.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
