Over the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in public concern about the government's role in global issues such as climate change and trade.
As a result, public opinion appears irrational since it is unstable, changing, and exhibits a lot of swings associated to the movement from one opinion to another without presenting any obvious rationale (Drezner 53).
Furthermore, public opinion appears to be incoherent because views expressed on one foreign policy issue are unrelated to views expressed on another similar issue.
Thus, public opinion does not have relation to global policy actions since the information, which is needed to produce the opinions is low. Critics argue that public opinion leads to creation of international cooperation.
Thesis statement
Public opinion should not play a significant role in the United States global policies.
This essay will discuss the arguments points of instability, coherence, and relation and the counter-arguments of rationality and universal judgment.
Instability
Public opinion lacks the stability on the views and perspectives on the global policies. As such, individuals tend to have one opinion on a given aspect, which changes to another one without any due explanation for the change (Logevall 101).
Further, the public does not consider the global policies of the United States on world issues as a significant threat to their lives (Goldsmith and Waxman 10). Hence, they do not have any concrete opinion on what should be done on such policy developments.
The opinions that are expressed by individuals tend to vary in accordance to the prevailing situations in society and economy. Thus, the political and economic sphere makes people change opinions on global issues.
Coherence
The opinion of the public members towards global issues is incoherent (Goldsmith and Waxman 17). As such, there is no relationship on the views, which are held for one policy as connected to the other. Thus, citizens express contrasting opinions and views on the global issues (Drezner 55).
Such occurs because the public lacks adequate information on global issues, which makes it complex to respond to these items as they occur in society. The need of the people is to have issues that directly affect their lives solved and addressed, but not those that affects a global population.
Relation
Public opinion is not related to any policy actions or events in the world. Therefore, the information provided does not influence the development of the policy and decision-making process (Ellis 135).
The situation occurs since the public has low information on what is happening in society. Furthermore, public opinion is highly incoherent and changeable, which makes it complex to offer a plausible relationship between the opinions and the real world (Kroenig 2).
Hence, such public opinion is irrational, which makes it complex to democratically govern foreign policies on global issues.
Rationality
In contrast, public opinion is argued to be rational. As such, citizens are aware of what is happening in society and the global issues. Thus, the information that is provided is plausible, coherent, and stable (Colgan and Keohane 39).
Such opinions are also related to the global events. Further, citizens always react to different policies, which are chosen by the leaders, which could lead to the emergence of the political costs in society.
The public members express a new trait of being highly cooperative as compared to the states. Such is not what individuals in society consider as a major milestone in their lives.
The states are labelled as restrictive and cannot be cooperative (Ellis 136). However, the citizens are cooperative such that they are able to adopt single and direct opinions on matters that affect them in society (Kroenig 3).
Hence, public opinion is a key factor of consideration when policy practitioners express the desire to enhance international cooperation.
Universal judgment
Public opinion shares universal judgment since individuals focus on how policies affect their lives. As such, citizens express great value for the international legitimacy, which emerges from endorsing the international institutions (Colgan and Keohane 37).
The public expresses a need to have a world order in the execution of different functions in society. The citizens are multilaterally inclined; they focus on having the international law as the guidance on the creation of the world order (Logevall 104).
They believe that nations have the mandate to respect and obey the international law irrespective of the events included in such a law being against the national interests for the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, citizens lack adequate information on global issues, which indicates that they cannot meaningfully contribute to the formulation of the policy on such matters. Majority of the issues are understandably ambivalent.
However, public opinion is rational and has a universal judgment. Therefore, the policy practitioners have the role and mandate to ensure that public opinion is involved to enhance international cooperation.
Nevertheless, public opinion should not play a great role in United States global policies since the citizens lack adequate information on world issues and events.
Works Cited
Colgan, Jeff, and Keohane, Robert. The liberal order is rigged: Fix it now or watch it wither.
Foreign affairs. 2017.
Drezner, Daniel. The realist tradition in American public opinion. Articles. Vol. 6, No. 1, 2008.
Ellis, Joseph. Founding brothers: The revolutionary generation. United States: Vintage Books,
2000.
Goldsmith, Jack, and Waxman, Matthew. The legal legacy of light-footprint warfare. The
Washington Quarterly. 39 (2), 7-21, 2016.
Kroenig, Matthew. Still time to attack Iran. Foreign Affairs: Council on Foreign Relations, 2014.
Logevall, Fredrick. Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam. Presidential studies quarterly. 34 (1), 2004.
