Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:27:57.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

My Brother's Keeper? Religious Cues and Support for Foreign Military Intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Joshua Su-Ya Wu  and
Austin J. Knuppe
Joshua Su-Ya Wu*
Affiliation:
Edelman Intelligence
Austin J. Knuppe*
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Joshua Su-Ya Wu, Edelman Intelligence, 131 Shelbourne Road, Rochester, NY 14620. E-mail: joshuaswu@gmail.com; or Austin J. Knuppe, Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University, Department of Political Science, 2140 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: knuppe.2@osu.edu.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Joshua Su-Ya Wu, Edelman Intelligence, 131 Shelbourne Road, Rochester, NY 14620. E-mail: joshuaswu@gmail.com; or Austin J. Knuppe, Department of Political Science, The Ohio State University, Department of Political Science, 2140 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail: knuppe.2@osu.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Americans are reluctant to support foreign military intervention. However, if victims of violence are identified as Christians, support for intervention is higher. We term this a “Brother's Keeper” effect as Americans, especially more religious Americans, will support intervention that aids co-religionists. To test our argument, we use a survey experiment that randomly assigns respondents to varying accounts of violence in the Central African Republic. Respondents who read Christians are the victims of violence are more supportive of military intervention compared to respondents who read vignettes that do not identify the religious identities of victims. Moreover, these Brother's Keeper effects are stronger among more religious respondents. We also find even stronger effects when extrapolating results as a population effect with survey weights. Our findings reveal that labeling otherwise unknown foreign actors as Christian have significant effects on support for foreign military intervention.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 537 - 565
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Albertson, B. 2011. “Religious Appeals and Implicit Attitudes.” Political Psychology 32:109–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, J.H., Gelpi, Christopher, Feaver, Peter, Reifler, Jason, and Sharp, Kristin Thompson. 2006. “Foreign Policy and the Electoral Connection.” Annual Review of Political Science 9:477–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Althaus, S., and Coe, K.. 2011. “Social Identity Processes and the Dynamics of Public Support for War.” Public Opinion Quarterly 75:65–88.Google Scholar
Amstutz, M. 2013. Evangelicals and American Foreign Policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacevich, A., and Prodromou, E.. 2005. “God is not Neutral: Religion and US Foreign Policy after 9/11.” Orbis 48:43–54.Google Scholar
Barker, D., Hurwitz, J., and Nelson, T.. 2008. “Of Crusades and Culture Wars: ‘Messianic’ Militarism’ and Political Conflict in the United States.” Journal of Politics 70:307–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, J., Francia, P., and Morris, J.. 2008. “A Clash of Civilizations? The Influence of Religion on Public Opinion of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East.” Political Research Quarterly 61:171–179.Google Scholar
Berinsky, A., Huber, G., and Lenz, G.. 2012. “Evaluating Online Labor Markets for Experimental Research: Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk.” Political Analysis 20:351–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brancati, D. 2013. “The Determinants of US Public Opinion Towards Democracy Promotion.” Political Behavior 36:705–730.Google Scholar
Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., and Gosling, S.D.. 2011. “Amazon's Mechanical Turk: A New Source of Inexpensive, Yet High-Quality, Data?” Perspectives on Psychological Science 6:3–5.Google Scholar
Calfano, B., and Djupe, P.. 2009. “God Talk: Religious Cues and Electoral Support.” Political Research Quarterly 62:329–339.Google Scholar
Cavari, A. 2012. “Religious Beliefs, Elite Polarization, and Public Opinion on Foreign Policy: The Partisan Gap in American Public Opinion Toward Israel.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 25:1–22.Google Scholar
Chapp, C. 2012. Religious Rhetoric and American Politics: The Endurance of Civil Religion in Electoral Campaigns. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Christensen, D., and Glick, D.. 2013. “Crowdsourcing Panel Studies and Real-Time Experiments in MTurk.” The Political Methodologist 20:27–32.Google Scholar
Collins, Todd A., Wink, Kenneth A., Guth, James L., and Livingston, C. Don. 2011. “The Religious Affiliation of Representatives and Support for Funding the Iraq War.” Politics and Religion 4:550–568.Google Scholar
den Dulk, K., and Rozell, M.. 2011. “George W. Bush, Religion, and Foreign Policy: Personal, Global, and Domestic Contexts.” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 9:71–82.Google Scholar
Djupe, P., and Calfano, B.. 2013. “Divine Intervention? The Influence of Religious Value Communication on U.S. Intervention Policy.” Political Behavior 35:643–663.Google Scholar
Durham, M. 2004. “Evangelical Protestantism and Foreign Policy in the United States after September 11.” Patterns of Prejudice 38:145–158.Google Scholar
Eckles, D., and Schaffner, B.. 2011. “Risk Tolerance and Support for Potential Military Interventions.” Public Opinion Quarterly 75:533–544.Google Scholar
Eichenberg, R. 2005. “Victory has Many Friends: U.S. Public Opinion and the Use of Military Force, 1981–2005.” International Security 30:140–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Froese, P., and Mencken, F.C.. 2009. “A U.S. Holy War? The Effects of Religion on Iraq War Policy Attitudes.” Social Science Quarterly 90:103–116.Google Scholar
Gamson, W.A., and Modigliani, A.. 1966. “Knowledge and Foreign Policy Opinions: Some Models for Consideration.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 30:187–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelpi, C., Feaver, P., and Reifler, J.. 2006. “Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity and the War in Iraq.” International Security 30:7–46.Google Scholar
Glazier, R. 2012. “Divine Direction: How Providential Religious Beliefs Shape Foreign Policy Attitudes.” Foreign Policy Analysis 9:127–142.Google Scholar
Graham, J., and Haidt, J.. 2010. “Beyond Beliefs: Religions Bind Individuals into Moral Communities.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14:140–150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guth, J. 2009. “Religion and American Public Opinion: Foreign policy Issues.” In Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 243–265.Google Scholar
Herrmann, R., Tetlock, P., and Visser, P.. 1999. “Mass Public Decisions to go to War: A Cognitive-Interactionist Framework.” American Political Science Review 93:553–573.Google Scholar
Herrmann, R., Isernia, P., and Segatti, P.. 2009. “Attachment to the Nation and International Relations: Dimensions of Identity and Their Relationship to War and Peace.” Political Psychology 30:721–754.Google Scholar
Hildebrandt, T., Hillebrecht, Courtney, Holm, Peter M., and Pevehouse, Jon. 2013. “The Domestic Politics of Humanitarian Intervention: Public Opinion, Partisanship, and Ideology.” Foreign Policy Analysis 9:243–266.Google Scholar
Hogg, M., Adelman, J., and Blagg, R.. 2010. “Religion in the Face of Uncertainty: An Uncertainty-Identity Theory Account of Religiousness.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 14:72–83.Google Scholar
Jelen, T. 1994. “Religion and Foreign Policy Attitudes: Exploring the Effects of Denomination and Doctrine.” American Politics Research 22:382–400.Google Scholar
Jentleson, B. 1992. “The Pretty Prudent Public: Post Post-Vietnam American Opinion on the Use of Military Force.” International Studies Quarterly 36:49.Google Scholar
Jentleson, B., and Britton, R., 1998. “Still Pretty Prudent Post-Cold War American Public Opinion on the Use of Military Force.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 42:395–417.Google Scholar
Johns, R., and Davies, G.. 2012. “Democratic Peace or Clash of Civilisations? Target States and Support for War in Britain and the USA.” Journal of Politics 74:1038–1052.Google Scholar
Jung, J.H. 2011. “Islamophobia? Religion, Contact with Muslims, and the Respect for Islam.” Review of Religious Research 54:113–126.Google Scholar
Kalkan, K., Layman, G., and Uslander, E.. 2009. “‘Bands of Others’? Attitudes Toward Muslims in Contemporary American Society.” Journal of Politics 71:847–862.Google Scholar
Kreps, S. 2007. “The 1994 Haiti Intervention: A Unilateral Operation in Multilateral Clothes.” Journal of Strategic Studies 30:449–474.Google Scholar
Kull, S., and Destler, I.M.. 1999 Misreading the Public: The Myth of a New Isolationism. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Lacina, B., and Lee, C.. 2013. “Culture Clash or Democratic Peace?: Results of a Survey Experiment on the Effect of Religious Culture and Regime Type on Foreign Policy Opinion Formation.” Foreign Policy Analysis 9:143–170.Google Scholar
Larson, E. V., and Savych, B.. 2006. American Public Support for US Military Operations from Mogadishu to Baghdad. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.Google Scholar
Lewis, A.R., Djupe, P. A., Mockabee, S.T., and Wu, Joshua Su-Ya. 2015. “The (Non) Religion of Mechanical Turk Workers.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 54:419–428.Google Scholar
Lincoln, B. 2006. Holy Terrors: Thinking about Religion after September 11. Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mays, D. 2007. Concerned Local Citizens Vastly Improve Security in Iraq's Diyala Province. Washington, DC: American Forces Press.Google Scholar
Mead, W. 2012. “God's Country.” In Rethinking Religion and World Affairs, eds. Shah, T.S., Stepan, A., and Toft, M.. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Merritt, J. 2014. “#WeAreN: What the media misses about Iraqi Christian persecution.” Religion News Service, June 25.Google Scholar
Mulrine, A. 2008. “The ‘Sons of Iraq’ Keep the Peace.” US News and World Report, February 5.Google Scholar
Neuberg, S.L., Warner, C.M., Mistler, S.A., Berlin, A., Hill, E.D., Johnson, J.D., Filip-Crawford, G., Millsap, R.E., Thomas, G., Winkelman, M., Broome, B.J., Taylor, T.J., and Schober, J.. 2014. “Religion and Intergroup Conflict: Findings from the Global Group Relations Project.” Psychological Science 25:198–206.Google Scholar
Obama, B. 2014. “Statement by the President.” www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/07/statement-president (Accessed on October 7, 2015).Google Scholar
Page, B.I., and Bouton, M.M.. 2006. The Foreign Policy Disconnect: What Americans Want from Our Leaders but Don't Get. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Peffley, M., and Hurwitz, J.. 1993. “Models of Attitude Constraint in Foreign Affairs.” Political Behavior 15:61–90.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2014a. How Americans Feel About Religious Groups. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2014b. Support for U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq; Concern about Getting Too Involved. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Preston, A. 2012. Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy. New York, NY: Knopf.Google Scholar
Putnam, R., and Campbell, D.. 2012. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Schafer, A. 2012. Piety and Public Funding: Evangelicals and the State in Modern America. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Sides, J., and Gross, K.. 2013. “Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror.” The Journal of Politics 75:583–598.Google Scholar
Sisto, C. 2014. “A Christian Genocide Symbolized by One Letter.” The National Review July 23.Google Scholar
Smidt, C. 2005. “Religion and American Attitudes toward Islam and an Invasion of Iraq.” Sociology of Religion 66:243.Google Scholar
Smith, R. 2008. “Religious Rhetoric and the Ethics of Public Discourse: The Case of George W. Bush.” Political Theory 36:272–300.Google Scholar
Taydas, Z., Kentmen, C., and Olson, L.. 2012. “Faith Matters: Religious Affiliation and Public Opinion About Barack Obama's Foreign Policy in the ‘Greater’ Middle East.” Social Science Quarterly 93:1218–1242.Google Scholar
Tiryakian, E. 1982. “Puritan America in the Modern World: Mission Impossible?” Sociological Analysis 43:351.Google Scholar
Wu, J.S.-Y. 2015. Presidential Use of Divine Election Religious Rhetoric in Foreign Policy Crises. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, R. 2010. Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, R., and Lewis, V.. 2008. “Religion and Altruistic U.S. Foreign Policy Goals: Evidence from a National Survey of Church Members.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47:191–209.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wu and Knuppe supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Wu and Knuppe supplementary material(File)
File 25.4 KB