Public Opinion and Foreign Policy – Does It Matter, and If So, How?

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Associated Colleges of the Midwest have joined together for a yearlong series on Foreign Policy in Practice.

As the Biden administration champions a Foreign Policy for the Middle Class, the first program in the series will consider how the opinions of Americans outside the foreign policy community factor into foreign policy decision making. To what extent does public opinion influence foreign policy decisions, and to what extent should it? How does our foreign policy influence public opinion in return?

Dina Smeltz, senior fellow on public opinion and foreign policy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and lead for the annual survey of American attitudes towards foreign policy, and James N. Druckman, the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, will join Elizabeth Shackelford, senior fellow on foreign policy, in a conversation that addresses the theory, practice, and history of public opinion’s influence on foreign policy. There will be time for audience Q&A and following the discussion there will be an informal opportunity for participants to network with their ACM peers, discuss careers in foreign policy, and continue the conversation.

Register