The public and the assembly: Foreign public opinion and voting in the UNGA
Michael Plouffe
Economic and Political Studies, 2025, vol. 13, issue 3, 243-263
Abstract:
Does the public opinion of foreign countries matter for foreign policy? Scholars examining this question have largely focussed on highly visible foreign-policy issues. I argue that public attitudes towards foreign countries influence foreign policy towards those countries beyond salient issues by shaping the environment within which foreign-policy decisions are made. Government interests in maintaining a coherent foreign-policy agenda and bureaucrats’ career incentives combine to link foreign public opinion to non-salient aspects of foreign policy. I analyse the relationship between mass attitudes towards foreign countries and measures of voting similarity in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) using a cross-national dataset. I find evidence that public opinion towards a foreign country is associated with UNGA voting similarity with that country. Consequently, when it comes to foreign policy, both salient and non-salient actions appear to be influenced by public opinion.
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:repsxx:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:243-263
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DOI: 10.1080/20954816.2025.2456736
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