Leiden University Student Repository

Engelberts, L.M.H. (2013)

Democratic Accountability and Foreign Policy: A Matter of Issue Salience in Public Opinion

Master thesis | Political Science (MSc)

The expression of public opinion varies depending on the issue. This variation could be linked to highly salient issues. We argue that public opinion will be more involved in the case of highly salient issues. In such circumstances, it would be interesting to examine if a higher saliency leads to a more accountable government. While some scholars link foreign policy with domestic debate, few of them link accountability with saliency as a means to verify the importance of domestic factors. Therefore, we will add new elements to the existing literature by focusing on this link. The question guiding our research will try to confirm that governments give more account when facing a salient issue within public opinion. Our question is the following: Does the high salience of a foreign policy issue have an influence on the extent of account-giving by democratic governments to citizens?

Foreign Policy

Administration

democratic accountability

Public Opinion

Author

Engelberts, L.M.H.

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

International relations

Supervisors

Vollaard, J.P.
Everts, P.P.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en