Jeffrey A. Friedman, The Commander-in-Chief Test: Public Opinion and the Politics of Image-Making in U.S. Foreign Policy (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2023). Published through Cornell’s “Studies in Security Affairs” series.
Summary
Americans frequently criticize US foreign policy for being overly costly and excessively militaristic. With its rising defense budgets and open-ended “forever wars,” US foreign policy often appears disconnected from public opinion, reflecting the views of elites and special interests rather than the attitudes of ordinary citizens.
The Commander-in-Chief Test argues that this conventional wisdom underestimates the role public opinion plays in shaping foreign policy. Voters may prefer to elect leaders who share their policy views, but they prioritize selecting presidents who seem to have the right personal attributes to be an effective commander in chief. Leaders then use hawkish foreign policies as tools for showing that they are tough enough to defend America’s interests on the international stage. This link between leaders’ policy positions and their personal images steers US foreign policy in directions that are more hawkish than what voters actually want.
Combining polling data with survey experiments and original archival research on cases from the Vietnam War through the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, Friedman demonstrates that public opinion plays a surprisingly extensive—and often problematic—role in shaping US international behavior. With the commander-in-chief test, a perennial point of debate in national elections, Friedman’s insights offer important lessons on how the politics of image-making impacts foreign policy and how the public should choose its president.
Reviews
“The Commander-in-Chief Test is a must-read for anyone interested in American presidential leadership. Jeffrey A. Friedman persuasively shows that democratic political leadership has much less to do with responsiveness to the public’s policy preferences than with the positive images citizens look for in leaders.” — Robert Y. Shapiro, coauthor of The Rational Public
“In this pathbreaking book, Jeffrey A. Friedman masterfully combines quantitative and archival data to show that presidents’ hawkish foreign policy actions reflect the public’s preference for strong leaders. This book will surely be seen as the authoritative treatment of how American foreign policy works and what can be done to improve its democratic basis.” —James N. Druckman, cauthor of Who Governs?
“This is the best book yet written on the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy. With a rare combination of truly superb quantitative and qualitative analysis, Jeffrey A. Friedman shows us not just that the public matters, but how it matters.” — Brian Rathbun, author of Reasoning of State
“Provocative and persuasive. In this elegantly written book, Jeffrey A. Friedman overturns conventional wisdom about the relationship between public opinion and foreign policy, showing how voters reward politicians who appear competent even as they pursue policies voters disagree with. Image-making, as Friedman compellingly argues, is central to the domestic politics of international affairs.” — Joshua Kertzer, author of Resolve in International Politics
“The Commander-in-Chief Test forces us to reevaluate and reimagine the role of the public in shaping foreign affairs and how elected leaders carefully craft their image in a way that has profound policy implications. Rich with an array of carefully collected and presented evidence, this book is a must-read for those with a budding interest in foreign policy to those with deep experience.” — Dustin Tingley, coauthor of Sailing the Water’s Edge
“A provocative argument for why voters might favor candidates with a hawkish platform. Scholars and political leaders who care about the linkage between public opinion and foreign policy must wrestle this argument and engage with the impressive array of evidence marshalled here.” — Peter D. Feaver, author of Thanks for Your Service
“Terrific. Jeffrey A. Friedman convincingly argues that voters apply a “commander-in-chief test” that ends up shaping American posture on the global stage. The implication is that opinion influences foreign policy, just not in the ways we usually assume.” — Philip B. K. Potter, University of Virginia, coauthor of War and Democratic Constraint