ABSTRACT
The conventional wisdom maintains that in the absence of wars or international economic crises, foreign policy has played little role in American presidential elections. This view has become particularly pronounced since the end of the Cold War. In this interpretation, the complexity of post- Cold War policy dilemmas and the absence of a powerful foreign adversary have caused an inattentive and uninformed American public to return to its history of isolationism and unilateralism on foreign policy. This view became especially prominent after the 1992 elections, when Democratic candidate William Clinton, with little foreign policy experience, focused his campaign on the domestic economy. The incumbent president, George Bush, had wide foreign policy experience and enjoyed extraordinarily high approval ratings after the victorious Gulf War in early 1991, but voters perceived him as out of touch with the domestic economy. Clinton’s victory therefore created the impression that domestic affairs would far outweigh foreign policy in post-Cold War presidential elections.
