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    International relations, covert action and secret detention: The perceptual theory of legitimacy and government decision making

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    Cox_ku_0099M_10357_DATA_1.pdf (385.7Kb)
    Issue Date
    2009-04-28
    Author
    Cox, Owen
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    56 pages
    Type
    Thesis
    Degree Level
    M.A.
    Discipline
    Psychology
    Rights
    This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
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    Abstract
    Governments are driven by a desire by to maintain their legitimacy, and so must take public perception into account in its decision making. We present four studies using the Perceptual Theory of Legitimacy (Crandall & Beasley, 2001) to explain why public perception matters to the government. Following our hypotheses that the public is motivated to have a consistent view of countries, governments, and people that it sees as related, we present evidence in our first study that the public links its perceptions of foreign governments to their alliance with the United States. The second study shows that manipulating the perceived level of democracy in Iran can affectively change the perception of its alliance with the United States. Likewise manipulating Iran's perceived level of alliance with the United States can affectively change the perceived level of democracy in Iran. As Iran's democracy increases so does its alliance and vice versa. The next two studies show that these public perceptions are linked to government action. We provide evidence that the United States is motivated by public perception in its decisions to use military force against other nations and in its detention of combatants in the "war on terror." The third study shows that when aggressing against other nations the United States uses covert actions at a greater rate against democracies than non-democracies. Likewise, the study shows that combatants from democracies apprehended in the "war on terror" are more likely to be subjected to extraordinary rendition than those apprehended from non-democracies. Both these studies are used as evidence of the government's desire to hide actions that the public would perceive as illegitimate.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/5427
    Collections
    • Theses [3710]
    • Psychology Dissertations and Theses [310]

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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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