Democracies and Foreign Policy: Public Participation in the United States and the Netherlands

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Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1995 - 173 pages

In Democracies and Foreign Policy, however, Bernard Cohen offers the first detailed comparison of two Western democracies--the United States and the Netherlands--and their patterns of public participation in foreign policy. To assess the influence of citizens on the foreign policies of each nation, he examines the institutions that both shape and express public opinion--national legislative bodies, media of communication, organized interest groups--and searches for the roots of these institutions in the national political systems.
Cohen's thought-provoking results demand a reassessment of aspects of foreign-policy making that have been taken for granted in each of these countries. Cohen finds, for example, that within the United States the media have significant power in setting agendas, while the political parties remain relatively mute on foreign-policy issues. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, the media have a lesser role, with the government instead sampling the opinion of the more outspoken political parties and party members. The Dutch Foreign Ministry, remaining walled off from the public, has a much freer hand in foreign policy. Cohen also finds that the U.S. State Department is much more sensitive to public opinion than its Dutch counterpart but, surprisingly, is less successful in understanding and coping with demands from its public.

 

Contents

The Political Systems of the Netherlands and
3
Some General Considerations
52
Political Parties and Legislatures
71
The Media of Mass Communication
100
Interest Groups
128
Conclusion
153
Copyright

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About the author (1995)

Bernard C. Cohen is the Quincy Wright Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Press and Foreign Policy, The Public's Impact on Foreign Policy, and The Political Process and Foreign Policy.

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