Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T19:11:10.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Religion and Ethnic Minority Attitudes in Britain toward the War in Afghanistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2013

Ben Clements*
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ben Clements, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Public opinion research has demonstrated that minority religious and ethnic groups hold distinctive preferences on foreign policy issues, including military interventions in the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. There has been little scholarly research in Britain into the attitudes of minority groups on foreign policy issues. This article uses a nationally-representative survey of the ethnic minority population in Britain to examine the sources of public opinion towards the war in Afghanistan. Using multivariate analysis, it finds strong effects for religious affiliation, religiosity and political alienation. There is also evidence of a “gender gap” and age-related differences. The paper contributes to the literature on the impact of religion on public opinion and foreign policy and to analysis of the political attitudes of minority groups in Britain.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abbas, Tahir. 2007. “Muslim Minorities in Britain: Integration, Multiculturalism and Radicalism in the Post-7/7 Period.” Journal of Intercultural Studies 28:287300.Google Scholar
Allison, Rachel. 2011. “Race, Gender, and Attitudes Toward War in Chicago: An Intersectional Analysis.” Sociological Forum 26:668691.Google Scholar
Religion Survey, Baylor. 2006. American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US, Waco, TX: Baylor Institute for the Study of Religion.Google Scholar
BBC News. 2009. “UK Muslims split on Taliban fight.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/8119273.stm (Accessed on April 28, 2011).Google Scholar
Bendyna, Mary E., Finucane, Tamara, Kirby, Lynn, O'Donnell, John P., and Wilcox, Clyde. 1996. “Gender Differences in Public Attitudes toward the Gulf War: A Test of Competing Hypotheses.” The Social Science Journal 33:122.Google Scholar
Berinsky, Adam J. 2009. In Time of War: Understanding American Public Opinion from World War II to Iraq. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Boussios, Emanuel G., and Cole, Stephen. 2010a. “Americans’ Attitudes toward War: Trend Analysis of Public Opinion for the Iraq War.” Journal of Applied Security Research 5:208226.Google Scholar
Boussios, Emanuel G., and Cole, Stephen. 2010b. “Do Individual Characteristics Matter? An Analysis of Americans’ Opinions toward the Korean, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, and Iraq War.” Journal of Applied Security Research 5:279305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burris, Val. 2008. “From Vietnam to Iraq: Continuity and Change in Between-Group Differences in Support for Military Action.” Social Problems 55:443479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Sanders, David, Stewart, Marianne C., and Whiteley, Paul. 2004. Political Choice in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Sanders, David, Stewart, Marianne C., and Whiteley, Paul. 2009. Performance Politics and the British Voter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clements, Ben. 2011. “Examining Public Attitudes towards Recent Foreign Policy Issues: Britain's Involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts.” Politics 32:6371.Google Scholar
Clements, Ben. 2012. “A Micro-Level Analysis of Support in Britain for the War in Afghanistan.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations. doi:10.1111/j.1467-856X.2012.00527.x.Google Scholar
Curtice, John, Fisher, Stephen, and Steed, Michael. 2005. “Appendix 2: The Results Analysed,” In The British General Election of 2005, eds. Kavanagh, Dennis, and Butler, David. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 235259.Google Scholar
Dowley, Kathleen M., and Silver, Brian D.. 2011. “Support for Europe among Europe's Ethnic, Religious and Immigrant Minorities.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 23:315337.Google Scholar
Eichenberg, Richard C. 2003. “Gender Differences in Public Attitudes toward the Use of Force by the United States, 1990–2003.” International Security 28:110141.Google Scholar
Field, Clive D. 2007. “Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain: The Evidence of the Opinion Polls, 1988–2006.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 18:447477.Google Scholar
Field, Clive D. 2012. “Revisiting Islamophobia in contemporary Britain, 2007–10.” In Islamophobia in the West: Measuring and Explaining Individual Attitudes, ed. Helbling, Mark. London: Routledge, 147161.Google Scholar
Field, Clive D. 2011. “Young British Muslims since 9/11: A composite attitudinal profile.” Religion, State and Society 39:159175.Google Scholar
Froese, Paul, and Mencken, F. Carson. 2009. “A U.S. Holy War? The Effects of Religion on Iraq War Policy Attitudes.” Social Science Quarterly 90:103116.Google Scholar
Guth, James L. 2011a. “Religion and American Attitudes on Foreign Policy, 2008: Testing Theories of Religious, Cultural and Ideological Influence.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal.Google Scholar
Guth, James L. 2011b. “Religious Factors and American Public Support for Israel: 1992–2008.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Guth, James L. 2009a. “Religion and American Public Opinion: Foreign Policy Issues.” In The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Politics, eds. Smidt, Corwin, Kellstedt, Lyman, and Guth, James L.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 243265.Google Scholar
Guth, James L. 2009b. “Militant and Cooperative Internationalism among American Religious Publics, 2008.” Presented at the Annual BISA Working Group Conference on US Foreign Policy, University of East Anglia.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Richard F. 1968. “A Research Note on the Mass Support for ‘Tough’ Military Initiatives.” American Sociological Review 33:439445.Google Scholar
Heath, Anthony F., Fisher, Stephen D., Sanders, David, and Sobolewska, Maria. 2011. “Ethnic Heterogeneity in the Social Bases of Voting at the 2010 British General Election.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 21:255277.Google Scholar
Holsti, Ole R. 2004. Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Huddy, Leonie, Feldman, Stanley, and Weber, Christopher. 2007. “The Political Consequences of Perceived Threat and Felt Insecurity.” Annals 614:131153.Google Scholar
Jones, Jeffrey M. 2003. “Blacks Showing Decided Opposition to War.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/8080/Blacks-Showing-Decided-Opposition-War.aspx (Accessed on April 16, 2011).Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1994. “Religion and Foreign Policy Attitudes: Exploring the Effects of Denomination and Doctrine.” American Politics Quarterly 22:382400.Google Scholar
Kam, Cindy D., and Kinder, Donald R.. 2007. “Terror and Ethnocentrism: Foundations of American Support for the War on Terrorism.” Journal of Politics 69:320338.Google Scholar
Leege, David C., and Lyman Kellstedt, A.. eds. 1993. Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Lunch, William L., and Sperlich, Peter W.. 1979. “American Public Opinion and the War in Vietnam.” The Western Political Quarterly 32:2144.Google Scholar
Miller, Warren E., and Merrill Shanks, J.. 1996. The New American Voter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Modood, Tariq, Berthoud, Richard, Lakey, Jane, Nazroo, James, Smith, Patten, Virdee, Satnam, and Beishon, Sharon. eds. 1997. Ethnic Minorities in Britain: Diversity and Disadvantage. London: Policy Studies Institute.Google Scholar
Mueller, John E. 1971. “Trends in Popular Support for the Wars in Korea and Vietnam.” American Political Science Review 65:358375.Google Scholar
Mueller, John E. 1973. War, Presidents and Public Opinion. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Mueller, John E. 1994. Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Nelsen, Brent F., Guth, James L., and Highsmith, Brian. 2011. “Does Religion Still Matter? Religion and Public Attitudes toward Integration in Europe.” Politics and Religion 4:126.Google Scholar
Nincic, Miroslav, and Nincic, Donna J.. 2002. “Race, Gender, and War.” Journal of Peace Research 39:547568.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I. 2006. The Foreign Policy Disconnect: What Americans Want from Our Leaders But Don't Get. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, Dennis, Gasim, Gamal, and Choi, Jangsup. 2011. “Identity, Attitudes, and the Voting Behavior of Mosque-Attending Muslim-Americans in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections.” Politics and Religion 4:289311.Google Scholar
Peach, Ceri. 2006. “Muslims in the 2001 Census of England and Wales: Gender and economic disadvantage.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 29:629655.Google Scholar
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2011. The Future Global Muslim Population Projections for 2010-2030. http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/Muslim/FutureGlobalMuslimPopulation-WebPDF-Feb10.pdf.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2007. Muslim Americans. Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream. http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf (Accessed on April 14, 2011).Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2011. Muslim Americans. No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism. http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/Muslim-American-Report.pdf (Accessed on April 14, 2011).Google Scholar
Saggar, Shamit. 2000. Race and Representation: Electoral Politics and Ethnic Pluralism in Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Saggar, Shamit, and Heath, Anthony. 1999. “Race: Towards a Multicultural Electorate?” In Critical Elections: British Parties and Voters in Long-term Perspective, eds. Evans, Geoffrey, and Norris, Pippa. London: Sage, 102123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, David. 1999. “The Impact of Left-Right Ideology.” In Critical Elections: British Parties and Voters in Long-term Perspective, eds. Evans, Geoffrey, and Norris, Pippa. London: Sage, 181206.Google Scholar
Sobolewska, Maria. 2005. “Ethnicity as Political Cleavage: Social Bases of Party Identity and Relevance of Political Attitudes.” http://www.crest.ox.ac.uk/papers/p107.pdf (Accessed on April 28, 2011).Google Scholar
Studlar, Donley T. 1986. “Non-White Policy Preferences, Political Participation and the Political Agenda in Britain.” In Race, Government and Politics in Britain, eds. Layton-Henry, Zig, and Rich, Paul B.. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Verba, Sydney, Brody, R. A., Parker, Edwin B., Nie, Norman H., Polsby, Nelson W., Ekman, Paul, and Black, G. S.. 1967. “Public Opinion and the War in Vietnam.” American Political Science Review 61:317333.Google Scholar
Webb, Paul. 2005. “The Continuing Advance of the Minor Parties.” Parliamentary Affairs 58:757775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Amanda. 2002. Social Focus in Brief: Ethnicity 2002. London: Office for National Statistics.Google Scholar
Whiteley, Paul, Clarke, Harold D., Sanders, David, and Stewart, Marianne C.. 2010. “Government Performance and Life Satisfaction in Contemporary Britain.” The Journal of Politics 72:733746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteley, Paul, Seyd, Patrick, and Billinghurst, Antony. 2006. Third Force Politics. Liberal Democrats at the Grassroots. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wittkopf, Eugene R. 1990. Faces of Internationalism: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde, Ferrara, Joseph, and Allsop, Dee. 1993. “Group Differences in Early Support for Military Action in the Gulf: The Effects of Gender, Generation and Ethnicity.” American Politics Quarterly 21:343359.Google Scholar