Domestic politics, citizen activism, and U. S. nuclear arms control policy

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6979950

Knopf, J W

The author seeks to ascertain whether and how citizens' movements concerning nuclear arms control and disarmament affect US arms control policy. The author employs a comparative case study methodology. He examines cases of the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations during the period of protest against nuclear testing, and the Reagan Administration during the nuclear weapons freeze campaign and the subsequent campaign for a comprehensive test ban. He hows there are four mechanisms through which public advocacy efforts can influence arms control policy, identifies the conditions under which each can be effective, and details the type of impact each mechanism has. Domestic activism interacts with broader public opinion in a way that creates electoral pressure; with elite-level debates in a way that removes a consensus behind presidential policy or changes the winning coalition in Congress; with bureaucratic politics, by generating ideas that have utility for some agents within the Executive; or with the public diplomacy of foreign governments, especially the Soviet Union. Citizens' movements had an impact on policy in each of the cases studied. The type and extent of impact, and the mechanisms involved in giving activism influence, are different for each case.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6979950
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
350100* -- Arms Control-- Policy
Negotiations
& Legislation-- (1987-)
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ARMS CONTROL
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
INTEREST GROUPS
INTERVENORS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FREEZE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POLITICAL ASPECTS
PUBLIC OPINION
USA
WEAPONS