Falling Behind: How Americans’ Anxiety Over Decline Affects U.S. Foreign Policy
Abstract (summary)
Candidates for office and elected officials frequently warn that the United States is falling behind its rivals. Why is this rhetoric so prevalent? And once leaders or candidates incite anxiety among the public over national decline for short-term political gain, can they later walk back that rhetoric and pursue cooperative foreign policies or policies that maintain the status quo? The study of status in international politics has blossomed over the last decade, with scholars proposing status dissatisfaction as an alternative explanation to seeking security or prosperity to explain state behavior. However, scholarship has paid less attention to the domestic-facing narratives of status decline. I first argue that messages warning of national decline are highly persuasive in American political rhetoric because for many, status has become ingrained in national identity. Through a comprehensive survey of 2,455 Americans, I offer novel data connecting national status to American national identity. I then propose a theory of status anxiety rhetorical entrapment, arguing that leaders seizing on the public’s anxiety over status decline for short-term political gain reinforces the public’s anxiety over perceived status loss and constrains leaders’ viable policy options to bold and risk-acceptant policies. Through a wealth of original survey, experimental, and archival research, I show how status anxiety affects various policy preferences and political attitudes and how elites’ status anxiety rhetoric entraps themselves into costly or belligerent foreign policies. Moreover, I show that when leaders campaign on inciting anxiety over decline, efforts to pivot to a more cooperative tone once in office are received negatively by the public. When leaders seize on and exacerbate the public’s anxiety over decline, therefore, this rhetoric has significant consequences.
Indexing (details)
American studies;
International relations;
Mental health
0601: International Relations
0323: American studies
0347: Mental health
