To what extent does public opinion impact upon the making and development of US foreign policy?

Essay aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Amerikanistik - Kultur und Landeskunde, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: As the United States of America is a democratic nation, liberals argue that the elected government should act according to public opinion when it comes to foreign policy. Realists, on the other hand, think that only experts respectively politicians are capable of decision-making and therefore public opinion need not be considered. Either way, an interesting question is, if public opinion is or is not significant when it comes to foreign policy. Therefore this essay will have a look at two stages, namely as U.S. foreign policy is made, and how it might change policies once they have been introduced.