The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy since Vietnam : Constraining the Colossus

Public Opinion in American Foreign Policy examines the role that public attitudes have played over the last generation in the making of United States foreign policy. It focuses on four of the most prominent foreign interventions of the last generation: the Vietnam War, the Nicaraguan contra funding controversy, the Persian Gulf War, and the Bosnia crisis. Through its examination of these events, the book argues and demonstrates that public opinion constrained but did not set American foreign intervention policy during the second half of the twentieth century. The book is perfect for use in political science or history courses on US foreign policy, and should also be attractive to the general reader interested in some of the most important conflicts of our time.