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How Cultural Orientations Create Shifting National Security Coalitions on Nuclear Weapons and Terrorist Threats in the American Public

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2011

Joseph T. Ripberger ,
Hank C. Jenkins-Smith  and
Kerry G. Herron
Joseph T. Ripberger
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
Hank C. Jenkins-Smith
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
Kerry G. Herron
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
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Extract

Scholars have used cultural theory (CT) to explain risk perceptions and opinion formation across an impressive array of public issues, ranging from environmental, regulatory, and energy policy to public health and economics. Although disparate, all these issues concern domestic policies. This article breaks with this trend by exploring the extent to which CT can help scholars better understand public beliefs about national security. Of critical importance in debates about national security are perceptions of individual versus collective threat and the appropriate role of authoritative institutions in protecting society from these threats. Because CT provides a framework that explicitly addresses these dimensions, national security issues provide an illuminating canvas for evaluating the theory's explanatory utility.

Type
Symposium
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 715 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

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