The Foreign Policy Mood in the United States

Abstract

Two points will be made in this chapter, both of which have a bearing on our analysis of US intervention in Bosnia. First it will be argued that public opinion is important in influencing foreign policy. Recent reassessments of the importance of public opinion have led to a reformulation of the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy. Second, it will be argued that the impact of public opinion and the public mood has been a deterrent to intervention in Bosnia. The lack of a taste for a potentially costly involvement in a foreign land was one of several important reasons that two consecutive administrations were cautious about increasing our presence in Yugoslavia.