Foreign Policy Belief Systems in Comparative Perspective: The United States and Costa Rica

The hierarchical model of foreign policy belief systems (Hurwitz and Peffley, 1987) stipulates that attitudes toward specific foreign policies (e.g., defense spending or support for new weapon systems) are constrained by more general foreign policy beliefs (postures and images of other nations) which, in turn, are constrained by even more general core values (e.g., patriotism). In this way, U.S. citizens were found to exhibit consistency and structure in their foreign policy attitudes, despite possessing little information in the domain. To test the generalizeability of the hierarchical model, we deliberately selected a polity which poses a dramatic contrast to the citizens in the United States—Costa Rica; here we found individuals who are far more pacific and isolationist in their beliefs relative to North Americans. To what degree do Costa Ricans and North Americans exhibit a common belief structure, despite possessing different attitudes? Analysis of analogous models in the two countries reveals that the most important structuring dimension in the United States—militarism—does not serve to constrain specific foreign policy beliefs of Costa Ricans, probably because of their nation's lack of experience in dealing with national security issues. However, anti-communism and, importantly, images of salient nations (e.g., Cuba, Nicaragua, and the U.S.) do structure Costa Ricans' policy attitudes, leading us to conclude that, as found in the U.S., general beliefs provide constraint to foreign policy belief systems abroad.