Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ole R. Holsti is George V. Allen Professor Emeritus of International Affairs in the Department of Political Science at Duke University and author of Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Visit Ole Holsti's website.

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To See Ourselves as Others See Us

The University of Michigan Press

Contents

List of Tables....................................................................................ixPreface...........................................................................................xiCHAPTER 1. Introduction...........................................................................1CHAPTER 2. How Publics Abroad View the United States and Its Foreign Policies.....................17How the United States Is Viewed Abroad............................................................17America's International Role......................................................................25Sensitivity to the Interests of Others............................................................33The Uses of Force.................................................................................38The War on Terrorism..............................................................................41Iraq..............................................................................................46Conclusion........................................................................................61CHAPTER 3. How Publics Abroad View Americans and American Society.................................64The American People and Society...................................................................65American Institutions and Values..................................................................71Conclusion........................................................................................85CHAPTER 4. The Impact of "How They See Us": Seven Mini-Case Studies...............................88Turkey............................................................................................90Indonesia.........................................................................................104Mexico............................................................................................117Canada............................................................................................129Australia.........................................................................................139Morocco...........................................................................................150South Korea.......................................................................................159CHAPTER 5. Explanations for Anti-American Opinions................................................172The End of the Cold War...........................................................................173Globalization.....................................................................................175America's Virtues and Values......................................................................179Irrationality.....................................................................................182Strategic Scapegoating............................................................................186Ignorance.........................................................................................187U.S. Policies.....................................................................................189CHAPTER 6. The Impact of American Policies........................................................192September 11 and the Invasion of Afghanistan......................................................196The Iraq War......................................................................................202American Rhetoric.................................................................................204Sensitivity to Domestic Interests.................................................................206Deep Partisan Cleavages...........................................................................211Conclusion........................................................................................215Bibliography......................................................................................221Index.............................................................................................229

Chapter One

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. -Charles Dickens

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind. -Declaration of Independence

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us, To see oursels as others see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us, An' foolish notion. -Robert Burns

The opening sentence of Charles Dickens's classic novel of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities, could serve as an apt description of contemporary American foreign policy. In fact, each of these familiar quotations frames some central themes in this book, which studies the ways publics abroad have assessed the United States, its institutions, and its policies in recent years.

By conventional measures of power and status, the United States unquestionably sits at the apex of the international pecking order. Its military capabilities outstrip those of any potential challenger or, indeed, those of any potential coalition of challengers. Because the Pentagon's annual budget is higher than that of the next sixteen countries combined, accounting for 48 percent of global military spending in 2005, the American position at the top of the world's military hierarchy seems certain to persist into the foreseeable future. The next four countries-Great Britain, France, China, and Japan-each contributed 4 to 5 percent of the world total.

When our attention turns to the economic realm, the picture is much the same. In 2000 the United States accounted for 29.3 percent of the world gross domestic product, a figure that is estimated to have risen to 29.5 percent in 2005 and to decline only slightly to 28.8 percent in 2025, while the countries that two decades ago were sometimes identified as challengers to American economic superiority-the Soviet Union, Japan, and Germany-have either disintegrated (the Soviet Union) or have suffered serious economic difficulties (Japan and Germany) that have all but eliminated their chances of approaching, much less surpassing, the United States. To be sure, reckless American tax policies since 2001 have resulted in unprecedented budget and trade deficits that will almost surely have serious consequences at some point in the future. It is also possible, though by no means inevitable, that China's economy will surpass the U.S. economy in several decades, but for the time being the American position as the world's top economy is beyond serious debate. Given the disparity in the present sizes of the American and Chinese economies, even should China maintain its spectacular GDP growth rate of 9.3 percent annually while the United States continues growing at a pedestrian 3.3 percent, the gap between the two countries will grow rather than contract. Analysts have even come to rethink their views of two decades ago that as a result of "imperial overreach" the United States would follow the declining path of previous hegemonic powers-Spain, the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain among them.

These figures clearly point to "the best of times" for the material bases of American foreign policy. How, then, can the phrase "the worst of times" possibly be used in any sentence or paragraph that deals with American...