INTERNATIONAL EVENTS AND FOREIGN-POLICY BELIEFS - PUBLIC RESPONSE TO CHANGING SOVIET-UNITED-STATES RELATIONS

How do citizens respond to dramatic foreign policy events, such as the recent changes in Soviet U.S. relations, when a traditional foe exhibits strong signs of conciliatory behavior? Using panel data collected before and after the nuclear arms summits of 1987 and 1988, we explore both the consequences and antecedents of changing images of the Soviet Union. Having shown in a prior cross-sectional study that Soviet images constrain policy attitudes in a static sense, the current panel study finds evidence of what Converse (1964) labeled dynamic constraint, in that softening perceptions of the Soviet Union appeared to precipitate more "dovish" policy attitudes. Our study also extends earlier work on enemy images in finding that some people are more resistant to change than others, notably political experts with extremely negative (i.e., "bad faith") initial images. The general importance of studying enemy images in the post-Cold War era is discussed.