When and Why Do Americans Close Ranks behind Their Presidents during International Crisis and War?

What is it about?

When and why does a "rally-round-the-flag" emerges in public opinion in the United States during war or security crisis? This study is the first to examine this question from a comparative historical perspective, using a new database of war events an security crises from 1950–2006.

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Why is it important?

In contrast to previous studies, which attributed increased levels of support for the president during rally-round-the-flag to citizens' rational calculation of success chances of military actions, to feelings of security threat, or to the manipulative role of opinion leader, this study shows that the rally phenomenon emerges when presidential rhetoric and historical circumstances jointly create in the public a widespread believe that the honor of the nation and its international prestige need to be reclaimed through military action. More broadly, the finding contradict common arguments about public opinion about foreign affairs, which adopt the assumption of either rational choice theory or realism in International Relations, and instead highlight the role of popular nationalism and symbolic politics.