Conflict over Israel: The role of religion, race, party and ideology in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1997-2002

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 17, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 407-426

  Oldmixon, Elizabeth A ^a   Rosenson, Beth ^b   Wald, Kenneth D ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 32144438009     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546550590929246     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. R. W. Stevenson, "For Muslims, a Mixture of White House Signals," New York Times, April 27, 2003.
2. K. Turaani, "Arab-American Republicans against Bush Press Release," http://www.aarab.org/.
3. We use the term "evangelical," to refer to a family of Protestant Christians distinguished by belief in Jesus as a personal source of salvation, the inerrancy of the Bible, and a commitment to converting others. This style of religious commitment dominates such major denominations as the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God and is a potent factor among many Methodists, Presbyterians, and other traditions. Although most black Protestants share this theology, they have traditionally drawn very different political inspiration from it and are not a component of the Christian Right movement. For a useful overview, see J. Christopher Soper, Evangelical Christianity in the United States and Great Britain: Religious Beliefs, Political Choices (London: Macmillan, 1994).
4. See http://www.cc.org/events/interfaithzionist.htm.
5. Tony Smith, Foreign Attachments: The Power of Ethnic Groups in the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).
6. For an extended scholarly debate, see Holbert N. Carrol, "The Congress and National Security Policy," in The Congress and America's Future, ed. David Truman (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973);
7. Robert Dahl, Congress and Foreign Policy (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1950);
8. Louis Fisher, Congressional Abdication on War and Spending (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000);
9. Thomas M. Franck and Edward Weisband, Foreign Policy by Congress (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979);
10. Roger Hilsman, The Politics of Policy-Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs (New York: Harper Row, 1971);
11. Barbara Hinckley, Less than Meets the Eye: Congress, the President, and Foreign Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994);
12. Bert Rockman, "Presidents, Opinion, and Institutional Leadership," in The New Politics of American Foreign Policy, ed. David Deese (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994);
13. Aaron Wildavsky, "The Two Presidencies," Trans-Action 4, no.2 (1966): 7-14.
14. Marvin C. Feuerweger, Congress and Israel: Foreign Aid Decision-Making in the House of Representatives, 1969-1976 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979).
15. Charles Lipson, "American Support for Israel: History, Sources and Limits," in U.S.-Israeli Relations at the Crossroads, ed. Gabriel Sheffer (London: Frank Cass, 1997);
16. S. Telhami and J. Krosnick, "U.S. Public Attitudes Toward Israel: A Study of the Attentive and Issue Publics," in U.S.-Israeli Relations at the Crossroads, ed. Gabriel Sheffer (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
17. Public opinion polls have consistently shown high and widespread support for Israel since the Jewish state was established in 1948. Sympathy for Israel is considerably greater than sympathy for the Palestinians among both political elites and the general public. For example, a Gallup poll conducted in April 2002 showed that 47 percent of those surveyed sided with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while only 13 percent backed the Palestinians. See Miles A. Pomper, K. Foerstel, and J. Broder, "DeLay Flexes Muscles on Middle East Issue," CQ Weekly, May 4, 2002, 1139.
18. Yaakov S. Ariel, On Behalf of Israel: American Fundamentalist Attitudes Toward Jews, Judaism, and Zionism, 1865-1945 (Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1991);
19. Paul Charles Merkley, The Politics of Christian Zionism, 1891-1948 (London: Frank Cass, 1998).
20. Feuerweger, Congress and Israel.
21. However, this is not to say support for Israel has been constant over time. Presidents and members of Congress have sometimes shown ambivalence and even vocal opposition to Israel. See Lipson, "American Support for Israel."
22. David Howard Goldberg, Foreign Policy and Ethnic Interest Groups: American and Canadian Jews Lobby for Israel (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990);
23. Robert J. Lieber, "Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy: Making Sense of America's Role in the Middle East Peace Process," World Affairs 161, no. 1 (1998): 3-9;
24. Vernon W.Ruttan, United States Development Assistance Policy: The Domestic Politics of Foreign Economic Aid (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996);
25. Paula Stern, Water's Edge: Domestic Politics and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979).
26. Pomper, Foerstel, and Broder, "Delay Flexes Muscles on Middle East Issue," CQ Weekly, May 4, 2002, 1139.
27. For a rare scholarly study that addresses the role of religion in explaining congressional attitudes toward Israel, see Kenneth D. Wald et al., "Reclaiming Zion: How American Religious Groups View the Middle East," in U.S.-Israeli Relations at the Crossroads ed. Gabriel Sheffer (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
28. For journalistic accounts, see for example P. Beinart, "Bad Move," New Republic, May 20, 2002;
29. Miles A. Pomper, Karen Foerstal, Jonathan Broder, "Delay Flexes Muscles on Middle East Issue," CQ Weekly, May 4, 2002, 1139.
30. Feuerweger, Congress and Israel.
31. We measure legislator religion categorically, classifying legislators as Roman Catholic, Jewish, mainline Protestant, or religious conservative based on the denominational affiliation reported in various editions of CQ's Politics in America. At the district level, religion is operationalized as the proportion of constituents belonging in each of these classifications.
32. Feuerweger, Congress and Israel;
33. Robert H. Trice, "Congress and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Support for Israel in the U.S. Senate, 1970-1973," Political Science Quarterly 92, no. 3 (1977): 443-63;
34. Kenneth D. Wald et al., "Reclaiming Zion."
35. R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional Action (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990);
36. Benjamin G. Bishin, "Constituency Influence in Congress: Does Subconstituency Matter?" Legislative Studies Quarterly 24, no. 3 (2000): 389-415;
37. Charles F. Cnudde and Donald J. McCrone, "The Linkage between Constituency Attitudes and Congressional Voting Behavior: A Causal Model," American Political Science Review 60, no. 1 (1966): 66-72;
38. David Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974);
39. D. Miller and D. E. Stokes, "Constituency Influence in Congress," American Political Science Review 57, no. 1 (1963): 45-56.
40. Gabriel A. Almond, The American People and Foreign Policy (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1950);
41. Barry B. Hughes, The Domestic Context of American Foreign Policy (San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1978);
42. Paul C. Light and Celina Lake, "The Election: Candidates, Strategies and Decisions," in The Elections of 1984, ed. Michael Nelson (Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1985);
43. James N. Rosenau, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy (New York; Random House, 1961);
44. but see also John H. Aldrich, John L. Sullivan, and Eugene Borgida, "Foreign Affairs and Issue Voting: Do Presidential Candidates 'Waltz Before a Blind Audience?'" American Political Science Review 83, no. 1 (1990): 23-41.
45. Trice, "Congress and the Arab-Israeli Conflict."
46. David Garnham, "Factors Influencing Congressional Support for Israel during the 93rd Congress," Jerusalem Journal of International Relations 2, no. 3 (1977): 23-45.
47. Tom Squitieri, "Israel Finds Support in Congress," USA Today, April 10, 2002.
48. Trice, "Congress and the Arab-Israeli Conflict."
49. Feuerweger, Congress and Israel.
50. Beinart, "Bad Move," Pomper, Foerstel, and Broder, "Delay Flexes Muscles on Middle East Issues," CQ Weekly, May 4, 2002, 1139.
51. Garnham, "Factors Influencing."
52. Gil C. Alroy, "Patterns in Hostility," in Attitudes Toward Jewish Statehood in the Arab World, ed. Gil Carl Alroy (New York: American Academic Association for Peace in the Middle East, 1971).
53. Mary Barberis, "The Arab-Israeli Battle on Capitol Hill," Virginia Quarterly Review 52, no. 3 (1976): 203-223.
54. Lipson, "American Support for Israel."
55. Samuel G. Freedman, "A Relationship That's Past Its Prime," New York Times, May 17, 2003.
56. Kenneth Wald, Religion and Politics in the United States (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 286-87.
57. Benjamin Ginsberg, Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993).
58. Peter L. Benson and Dorothy L. Williams, Religion on Capitol Hill; Myths and Realities (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982);
59. Christine L. Day, "State Legislative Voting Patterns on Abortion Restrictions in Louisiana," Women and Politics 14, no. 2 (1995): 45-63;
60. S. F. Gohmann and R. L. Ohsfeldt, "Predicting State Abortion Legislation from U.S. Senate Votes: The Effects of Apparent Ideological Shirking," Policy Studies Review 9 (1990): 749-64;
61. John C. Green and J. L. Guth, "Religion, Representatives and Roll Calls," Legislative Studies Quarterly 16 (1991): 571-84;
62. Kenneth Meier, The Politics of Sin (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1994);
63. Christopher Z. Mooney and Mei-Hsien Lee, "Legislating Morality in the American States: The Case of Pre-Roe Abortion Reform," American Journal of Political Science 39 (1995): 599-627;
64. Christopher Z. Mooney, The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy (New York: Chatham House, 2001).
65. James W. Button, Barbara A. Rienzo, and Kennenth D. Wald, Private Lives, Public Controversies: Battles over Gay Rights in American Communities (Washington DC: CQ Press, 1997);
66. Donald Haider-Markel and K. Meier, "The Politics of Gay and Lesbian Rights: Expanding the Scope of the Conflict," Journal of Politics 58 (1996): 332-50;
67. Donald Haider-Markel, "Morality in Congress? Legislative Voting on Gay Issues," in The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy, ed. Christopher Z. Mooney (New York: Chatham House, 2001);
68. Elizabeth Oldmixon, "Culture Wars in the Congressional Theater: How the U.S. House of Representatives Legislates Morality, 1993-1998," Social Science Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2002): 775-88.
69. Alfred O. Hero Jr., American Religious Groups View Foreign Policy: Trends in Rank-and-File Opinion, 1937-1969 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1973);
70. David Leege, Joel Lieske, and Kenneth Wald, "Toward Cultural Theories of American Political Behavior: Religion, Ethnicity and Race, and Class Outlook," in Political Science: Looking to the Future, ed. William Crotty (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991);
71. David Leege and Lyman A. Kellstedt, Rediscovering the Religious Factor in American Politics (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1993);
72. Milton Rokeach, "Religious Values and Social Compassion," Review of Religious Research 11, no. 1 (1969): 24-39;
73. Milton Rosenberg, "Attitude Change and Foreign Policy in the Cold War Era," in Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy, ed. James N. Rosenau (New York: Free Press, 1967).
74. P. Fabrizio, "Evolving into Morality Politics: U.S. Catholic Bishops' Statements on U.S. Politics from 1792 to the Present," in The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy, ed. Christopher Z. Mooney (New York: Chatham House, 2001);
75. S. Hays and H. Glick, "The Role of Agenda Setting in Policy Innovation: An Event History Analysis of Living Will Laws," American Politics Quarterly 25, no. 4 (1997): 497-516;
76. Kenneth D. Wald, Religion and Politics in the United States (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1992).
77. Paul S. Boyer, "John Darby Meets Saddam Hussein: Foreign Policy and Bible Prophecy," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 14, 2003, B10.
78. Paul S. Boyer, Chronicle of Higher Education, Ibid.
79. Kenneth Wald and Lee Sigelman, "Romancing the Jews: The Christian Right in Search of Strange Bedfellows," in Sojourners in the Wilderness: The Religious Right in Comparative Perspective, ed. James Penning and Corwin Smidt (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997).
80. Beinart, "Bad Move."
81. Jeff Jacoby, "Israel's Unshakable Allies," Boston Globe May 15, 2003.
82. Pomper, Foerstel, and Broder, "Delay Flexes Muscles on Middle East Issues," CQ Weekly, May 4, 2002, 1139.
83. Charles Y. Glock and Rodney Stark, Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism (New York: Harper and Row, 1966);
84. Gregory Martire and Ruth Clark, Anti-Semitism in the United States: A Study of Prejudice in the 1980s (New York: Praeger, 1982);
85. Harold Quinley and Charles Y. Glock, Anti-Semitism in America (New York: Free Press, 1979);
86. Gertrude Selznick and Stephen Steinberg, The Tenacity of Prejudice: Anti-Semitism in Contemporary America (New York: Harper and Row, 1969);
87. Rodney Stark, et al., Wayward Shepherds: Prejudice and the Protestant Clergy (New York: Harper and Row, 1971).
88. Wald et al., "Reclaiming Zion."
89. They note, however, that this lack of support may be attributable not so much to members' attitudes toward Israel, but possibly to attitudes toward foreign aid spending in general or other factors.
90. We ran separate analyses of votes, cosponsorship decisions, and the combined measure for every Congress. For the most part, the coefficients are very stable, though some lose significance when we disaggregate the dependent variable.
91. The following denominations are classified as fundamentalist or evangelical: Brethren in Christ, Seven Day Adventist, Apostolic Christian (Nazarene), Church of God, Evangelical, Christian Missionary Alliance, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Independent Baptist, and Assemblies of God. This is based on the Green and Guth, "Religion" classification.
92. These data were graciously provided by John Green and are based on data collected by the Glenmary Research Center.
93. Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal, "Patterns of Congressional Voting," American Journal of Political Science 35, no. 1 (1991): 228-78.
94. Haider-Markel, "Morality in Congress?";
95. Mark Wattier and Raymond Tatalovich, "Senate Voting on Abortion Legislation over Two Decades: Testing a Reconstructed Partisanship Variable," American Review of Politics, 16, Summer (1995): 167-83.
96. "Carnage as Israel Violence Escalates," Guardian, March 5, 2002.
97. R. Putnam, "Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games," International Organization 42 (1988): 427-460.
98. For the distinction between instrumental and value rationality see Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (New York: Scribner's, 1958).
99. This literature is summarized in Kenneth D. Wald, Religion and Politics, (2003).
100. Barbara A. McGraw, Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground: Public Religion and Pursuit of the Good in a Pluralistic America (New York: SUNY Press, 2003).
101. Because evangelical Protestants and American Jews are generally on opposite ends of the political spectrum (see Wald and Sigelman, "Romancing the Jews"), cooperation on the Middle East runs up against their traditional differences.
102. Yaakov Ariel, "Philosemites or Antisemites? Evangelical Christian Attitudes toward Jews and the State of Israel," in Analysis of Current trends in Antisemitism, no. 20 (Jerusalum: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002).
103. Beinart, "Bad Move."
104. Beinart, Bad Move, Ibid.
105. Descriptions taken from THOMAS.loc.gov.