Explaining Foreign Policy Attitudes: The Case of Danish Attitudes toward America

Abstract

Hansen, P. Explaining Foreign Policy Attitudes: the Case of Danish Attitudes toward America. Cooperation and Conflict, XII, 1977, 149-170.

The article discusses and evaluates the present state of approaches to the study of foreign policy attitudes. Noting the prevalence of single-factor studies at only one of several possible levels of analysis, the article emphasizes the need for more com prehensive analytic models, integrating various levels of analysis and different variable categories. Drawing upon an analytical framework of this nature, Danish attitudes toward America are analyzed from a variety of theoretical perspectives utilizing mea sures of personality disposition, socio-economic status, party preference, as well as other factors. Comparing attitudes toward America with attitudes toward the Third World and toward the Soviet Union shows how these foreign policy attitude aspects are related differently to the different categories of explanatory variables included in the analytical framework.