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Societal economic interests play a central role in the politics of American foreign
economic policy. Recent research indicates that individual economic self-interest shapes
preferences about trade protection (e.g., Scheve and Slaughter 2001; Kaltenthaler, et al.
2004). There is also substantial evidence that the economic interests of their constituents
and contributors influence the way members of Congress vote on commercial policy
questions (e.g., Baldwin and Magee 2000; Fordham and McKeown 2003). A similar set
of interests appears to Congressional voting on other foreign economic policy questions
as well (Broz 2005).
Does the influence of economic interests extend beyond the foreign economic
policy questions to which they are immediately relevant, shaping broader foreign policy
attitudes as well? While there is some evidence that economic stakes in the world role of
the United States have influenced congressional voting on some national security issues
(e.g., Eden 1984; Fordham 1998a; Trubowitz 1998), there has been little research on the
influence of economic interests on public attitudes toward American foreign policy.
Using data from the American National Election Study (ANES) covering most of the
postwar era, this paper will present evidence that both individual self-interest and
regional stakes in the international economy have helped shape public support for
American international activism, broadly understood.
The paper has four parts. The first explains why economic interests should
influence public opinion on a wide range of foreign policy issues, and outlines a research
design for testing these effects. The next section briefly reviews the data used in the
empirical test. The third part presents the results. A final section summarizes and
concludes.
Convention