U.S. image on roller coaster ride since Cold War
Editor’s note: Bruce Stokes is director of global economic
attitudes at the Pew Research Center. The views expressed are his own.
This is the second article in a series on America’s identity and image since the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The world may have breathed a sigh of relief after President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Union managed to avoid nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But America’s rise in the 50 years since President Kennedy was killed has been far from trouble-free – and America’s international standing since the fall of its great Cold War rival has reflected the ups, downs and uncertainties of the past five decades.
When the Cold War ended, U.S. strategic hegemony, and more broadly the American brand, appeared poised for prolonged preeminence. With the Soviet Union in shambles, followed soon thereafter with the implosion of Japan’s economic bubble, America’s standing in the world seemed unchallenged and unchallengeable. But in the ensuing quarter century, the U.S. image has been on a roller coaster ride. And China has emerged as a new rival in the eyes of the world.
There is little consistent, publicly available opinion data on global views of the United States prior to the first decade of the 21st century. In the early 1980s, a Newsweek poll found that most people surveyed believed America’s global influence was expanding. But that was not necessarily a positive sentiment. With a possible U.S.-Russian nuclear confrontation still very much on people’s minds, majorities in many countries said America’s strong military actually increased the chances for war. And just a quarter of the French approved of U.S. policies. The situation was only slightly better in Japan and Germany.
In 1991, in the immediate wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, majority views about the United States were generally upbeat in much of Eastern Europe and in Germany. Roughly three-quarters of Poles and Hungarians, and two-thirds of Bulgarians, Czechs and West Germans viewed the influence of the United States as a good thing, according to a survey by the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press.
By the end of the decade, there was generally favorable sentiment about the United States in many countries. Overwhelming majorities in Poland (86 percent), Britain (83 percent), Germany (78 percent), Japan (77 percent) and Italy (76 percent) gave Uncle Sam a thumbs up, according to surveys by the U.S. State Department.
Yet by 2002, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the ensuing “war on terror” launched by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, America’s image had begun to erode, according to the first Pew Global Attitudes survey. U.S. favorability dropped in countries where it was already moderate or weak: in Turkey (to 30 percent, down 22 percentage points since the beginning of the decade) and in Pakistan (down 13 points). And while the U.S. image remained healthy in many other nations, it had slipped in Germany (down 18 points), Britain (down 8 points) and in Poland (down 7 points). Ironically, perhaps in a sign that Cold War animosities were a thing of the past, Russian support for the United States actually rose to 61 percent, up 24 points.
More from GPS: American star power still rules
The numbers show that the Bush years were generally not good for America’s standing in the world. Opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and perceived American foreign policy unilateralism sapped good will toward Washington. By 2007, favorability of the United States had fallen by 30 points in Germany, 26 points in the Czech Republic and stood at just 9 percent in Turkey (down 21 points). Meanwhile, only a third of Chinese and 41 pecent of Russians had a positive view of their chief rival.
Interestingly, even before Bush left office, America’s standing in the world had begun to rebound. In 2008, the median was up to 46 percent and by 2009, with the election of Barack Obama as president, U.S. favorability rose to 59 percent in the 11 countries with comparable data, roughly equaling America’s standing in 2002.
The world may have breathed a sigh of relief after President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Union managed to avoid nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But America’s rise in the 50 years since President Kennedy was killed has been far from trouble-free – and America’s international standing since the fall of its great Cold War rival has reflected the ups, downs and uncertainties of the past five decades.
When the Cold War ended, U.S. strategic hegemony, and more broadly the American brand, appeared poised for prolonged preeminence. With the Soviet Union in shambles, followed soon thereafter with the implosion of Japan’s economic bubble, America’s standing in the world seemed unchallenged and unchallengeable. But in the ensuing quarter century, the U.S. image has been on a roller coaster ride. And China has emerged as a new rival in the eyes of the world.
There is little consistent, publicly available opinion data on global views of the United States prior to the first decade of the 21st century. In the early 1980s, a Newsweek poll found that most people surveyed believed America’s global influence was expanding. But that was not necessarily a positive sentiment. With a possible U.S.-Russian nuclear confrontation still very much on people’s minds, majorities in many countries said America’s strong military actually increased the chances for war. And just a quarter of the French approved of U.S. policies. The situation was only slightly better in Japan and Germany.
In 1991, in the immediate wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, majority views about the United States were generally upbeat in much of Eastern Europe and in Germany. Roughly three-quarters of Poles and Hungarians, and two-thirds of Bulgarians, Czechs and West Germans viewed the influence of the United States as a good thing, according to a survey by the Times Mirror Center for the People & the Press.
By the end of the decade, there was generally favorable sentiment about the United States in many countries. Overwhelming majorities in Poland (86 percent), Britain (83 percent), Germany (78 percent), Japan (77 percent) and Italy (76 percent) gave Uncle Sam a thumbs up, according to surveys by the U.S. State Department.
Yet by 2002, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the ensuing “war on terror” launched by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, America’s image had begun to erode, according to the first Pew Global Attitudes survey. U.S. favorability dropped in countries where it was already moderate or weak: in Turkey (to 30 percent, down 22 percentage points since the beginning of the decade) and in Pakistan (down 13 points). And while the U.S. image remained healthy in many other nations, it had slipped in Germany (down 18 points), Britain (down 8 points) and in Poland (down 7 points). Ironically, perhaps in a sign that Cold War animosities were a thing of the past, Russian support for the United States actually rose to 61 percent, up 24 points.
More from GPS: American star power still rules
The numbers show that the Bush years were generally not good for America’s standing in the world. Opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and perceived American foreign policy unilateralism sapped good will toward Washington. By 2007, favorability of the United States had fallen by 30 points in Germany, 26 points in the Czech Republic and stood at just 9 percent in Turkey (down 21 points). Meanwhile, only a third of Chinese and 41 pecent of Russians had a positive view of their chief rival.
Interestingly, even before Bush left office, America’s standing in the world had begun to rebound. In 2008, the median was up to 46 percent and by 2009, with the election of Barack Obama as president, U.S. favorability rose to 59 percent in the 11 countries with comparable data, roughly equaling America’s standing in 2002.
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