An article reported in the latest issue of Foreign Policy Analysis shows the different underlying forces in European states' decisions to support the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. The authors show that systemic forces of power relations and ideological orientations of governments in Europe create a difference between the states of Eastern Europe, who were by-in-large supportive of the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, and those of Western Europe, who largely opposed the decision. The study also indicates that public opinion could not account for whether a state joined the "coalition of the willing" or not.

The authors find that smaller Eastern European states (a number of of them former Soviet communist states) tended to be influenced by power relations because it is American power that enhances their security and strengthens their autonomy by holding in check the power of the bigger, mostly Western European states. The authors state, "they are much more vulnerable to influences from other, larger countries, as they are too weak without a strong partner. Whereas the powerful states can self-confidently confront the U.S. because their risk in doing so is simply relatively low, in small states the fear not to anger the superpower should prevail." In Western Europe, the ideological orientations of governments, which are expressed in its party affiliations, were the decisive factor in determining whether a state supported the U.S., but not in Eastern Europe. The authors also find through the use of surveys and by analyzing the extent of public protests, that the states' public opinions were not influential enough to determine key political foreign policy positions regarding the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq.



Posted by: Edwin    Source