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- Title
The polls--trends.
- Authors
Sobel, Richard
- Abstract
In late 1995, the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) finally intervened forcefully in Bosnia. The path to intervention, however, was long and torturous. This article summarizes trends and patterns in American public attitudes about Bosnia intervention. Results of surveys about possible intervention began to appear in the summer of 1992, not long after the conflict had turned into war in April of that year. The data come mainly from national polls conducted by the news media and other major pollsters. Because survey organizations employed different question wordings, and there were few repeated items about the conflict, it is particularly hard to identify trends over time. Polling on Bosnia reveals that the "post-Vietnam syndrome" was still apparent in the preference of most Americans to stay out of foreign entanglements since the Reagan-era involvements in Central America. For efforts like airdrops of humanitarian aid, for which the justification was compelling, or for air strikes, where the risk to U.S. soldiers was low, support was fairly strong. Between 1992 and 1995, there generally was majority support for U.S. assistance in providing humanitarian aid and protecting UN peacekeepers.
- Subjects
VIETNAM; UNITED States; SURVEYS; ECONOMIC trends; MILITARY promotions; DELIVERY of goods
- Publication
Public Opinion Quarterly, 1998, Vol 62, Issue 2, p250
- ISSN
0033-362X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1086/297843