2007 Gladys M. Kammerer Award

For the best political science publication in 2006 in the field of U.S. national policy.

Award Committee: Gary C. Jacobson, University of California, San Diego, Chair; Richard E. Foglesong, Rollins College; Glenn R. Parker, Purdue University

Recipients: Benjamin I. Page, Northwestern University, with Marshall M. Bouton, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Book: The Foreign Policy Disconnect:  What Americans Want from Our Leaders But Don’t Get (University of Chicago Press, 2006)

Citation: Reviewing and analyzing a wide array of survey data on Americans’ views regarding diverse aspects of American foreign policy, Benjamin Page and Marshall Bouton show “that­ contrary to the assertions of many scholars, pundits, and political elites ­collective public opinion about foreign policy is not inconsistent, capricious, fluctuating, or unreasonable. Instead, Americans’ collective responses to hundreds of different survey questions over the years have, for the most part, been coherent and mutually consistent, durable over time, and (given the information available to the citizenry) sensible.” They also show that on important topics ­including the domestic impact of foreign trade and competition and support for U.S. participation in international institutions ­the aggregate views of ordinary citizens are often at odds with leaders who make national policy. The issues they address are both enduring and timely.  The book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the possibilities and shortcomings of American democracy in the domain of foreign policy, even as it enriches the literature on aggregate public opinion in the United States.