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Introduction to Developments in Public Opinion and Foreign Policy as a Field
A field develops by creating a body of knowledge derived from theoretical insights
that are empirically tested with diverse evidence. The state of development of current
work in the field on public opinion and foreign policy crossnationally can be evaluated
based on a series of theoretical and empirical criteria.
Ole Holsti (1996, p. 192) provides three criteria for studies that advance the state
of the discipline. These criteria include, first, theoretically motivated investigations. In
particular, these involve critical case studies for theory development and testing drawing
on archival materials and interviews (Lipset, 1960). Second, they require the studies to be
crossnational in scope and comparative in analysis. Third, testing of these theoretical
models require a standard set of replicated and preferably crossnational opinion items. In
addition, a fourth criterion is the creation of systematic overviews of the field, and a fifth
is the creation of regular syntheses of existing theoretical and empirical developments.
Together these five criteria form the bases for an agenda for evaluating the field.
They do so, in large part, as foundations for advancing the theory of public opinion and
foreign policy. Moreover, they provide steps in an agenda for developing public opinion
and foreign policy into a field of political science. This paper identifies the current state of
the field, evaluates it against Holsti’s and other criteria, and points toward future efforts to
advance the field’s development. Especially important here will be the state of the
development of theory in and of the field. Particularly notable will be the extension of the
domestic politics and foreign policy field and theory into international arenas. An
Convention