International Trust and Public Opinion About World Affairs

Abstract

This study argues that citizens base their opinions about world affairs in part on generalized beliefs about how much their nation can trust other nations. Using original data from a two-wave panel survey and a cross-sectional survey, we show that Americans hold stable, internally consistent, and largely pessimistic generalized beliefs about whether the United States can trust other nations. We find that social trust, political trust, partisanship, and age influence this form of trust, which we call international trust. We then demonstrate that international trust shapes whether Americans prefer internationalism to isolationism, perceive specific foreign nations as unfriendly and threatening, and favor military action against Iraq. The role of international trust in shaping opinion may be consistent with theories of low-information rationality, but competing interpretations are also plausible.

Guilt by association: The link between states’ influence and the legitimacy of intergovernmental organizations

“…Distrust for one's own central government also may prompt distrust for intergovernmental organizations, although a priori the expected sign of the coefficient is not clear. If interviewees believe that a multilateral institution is a mere extension or aggregation of unsatisfactory state leadership, then perceptions of the two entities would be positively correlated (Klabbers 2001;Brewer et al 2004;Torgler 2008). On the other hand, if the "boomerang effect" (which portrays IGOs as participants in transnational advocacy networks that can alter outcomes by putting pressure on recalcitrant states) holds, then respondents may view an organization as an attractive alternative to a corrupt or inept national political system, and perceptions of the two entities would be negatively correlated (Risse-Kappen 1995; Keck and Sikkink 1998).…”

“…Even individuals who are not inherently skeptical about human interactions may find political interactions especially difficult to understand or monitor. While previous research offers mixed predictions about the expected effect of factors such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status, it is united in suggesting that such demographic variables may be correlated with trust in international entities (Alesina and LaFerrara 2002;Brewer et al 2004;Edwards 2009). To control for the potential influence of these factors, I add the ordered variable Extent of Political Understanding, as well as the binary variables Male, High School Graduate, and Generally Distrusting.…”

Credible Sources of Information Regarding Induced Seismicity

“…There are many examples of how to measure credibility and the foundational elements of credibility, including in-depth studies that have aggregated ordinal, Likert-type items to develop interval or continuous measures [53][54][55]. In order to decrease the burden on survey respondents, this tested method of measurement was used in lieu of a continuous measurement scale (e.g., [38]) that would take more effort on the part of participants and likely result in a lower response rate.…”

How do Multilateral Institutions Influence Individual Perceptions of International Affairs? Evidence from Europe and Asia

“…Particularly, whether or not individuals think their country/nation is receiving fair treatment in international relations is an aspect of 'international trust'. Previous research (Brewer et al, 2004;Torgler, 2008) has defined 'international trust' as people's trust in other nations, and has shown that international trust influences key aspects of people's attitudes toward foreign policy. For instance, international trust influences whether publics favor isolationism over internationalism, whether they support military intervention or not, and what kind of images of other nations they hold.…”

“…1 This survey is particularly suited to our purposes because it includes questions on the widest range of international organizations available, specifically the UN, the WTO and the WB. Moreover, the dependent variable we utilize, which asks whether individuals think their country/nation is being treated fairly ('fair treatment'), captures a core aspect of 'international trust' and therefore constitutes a key dimension of individuals' perceptions of international affairs (for example, Brewer et al, 2004). At the same time, the survey asks questions about regional organizations, specifically the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).…”