A new generation's view on foreign intervention: an experimental approach in the post-cold war era

Abstract

This study explores the post-cold war preferences of 400 undergraduate college participants in an experiment about conditions for U.S. intervention and the use of American military forces abroad. Two factors believed to shape the extent of support for United States intervention and the use of American forces abroad are tested: the policy objective characterizing United States intervention and the framing of the likelihood of success for intervention. The researcher selected six international crises that students in a pilot test had associated as one of three possible policy object ives. These objectives include the preservation of U.S. national security interests, the promotion of democratic principles and values, and provisions for humanitarian assistance. Results of the experiment reveal a preference by respondents to support intervention and deployment of U.S. troops abroad for the promotion of democracy and humanitarian assistance over the preservation of U.S. national interests. Although the objective characterizing American intervention had a significant effect on respondent decisions, the framing of the likelihood of success did not-