Views
of world elite at core of U.S. problems abroad
Vladimir Shlapentokh
Much of the debate over
anti-Americanism abroad boils down to a single question: Who's responsible for
it -- them or us?
The Pew Global Attitudes
Project's recent gargantuan survey, which stretched its tentacles across 44
countries and included some 38,000 people, found that America's rating has slipped,
but ''a reserve of goodwill toward the country still remains.''
That seems a windfall
for America's image abroad compared to the decisively negative views we
discovered in our own yearlong study of foreign elite opinion. While the Pew
project focused on the masses, our study measured the reaction of foreign
elites -- that is, people who shape the foreign and domestic policies in their
countries -- to the events of 9/11, as reflected in the international press. We analyzed more than 4,000 articles from the 10
largest newspapers in China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, India and Russia, most of them published Sept. 12-15, 2001. While
many of these articles were written by pundits who are paid to be provocative,
we also separated and measured the opinions of political, business, cultural
and religious leaders.
Our
major finding: Elites in much of the world hate the USA. Even
the so-called outpouring of sympathy for America following 9/11 never
really materialized among most foreign elites.
In India, for instance, a columnist called America ''a bully,'' while a religious leader said the USA was ''a hypocrite who bombs the people it
feeds.'' In Egypt, a politician proclaimed that ''America's racist foreign policies are the main cause of
Sept. 11.'' Although Egypt receives more financial aid from the USA than any other country in our project, the
Egyptian elites in our study labeled the USA ''a terrorist'' 16 times more often than they
called it ''generous or charitable.''
Views
harm anti-terror efforts
This hostility has a
tremendously negative effect on the struggle against international terrorism.
It creates an adversarial climate in which terrorists can find support among
ordinary people; foreign intelligence agencies are less willing to share
information with their U.S. counterparts, and U.S. military operations are impeded. It also generates political
capital for the opposition in countries where the leader cooperates with America.
The disparity between
mass and elite views sheds light on the cause of anti-Americanism. When the
masses abroad think of the United States, they may consider its military's brute force or the
improprieties of its leaders -- but they also see Hollywood, high technology and a
chance for a better life. The USA received high scores in the Pew study for culture, particularly
science and technology.
Masses
vs. elites
More
importantly, immigration to the USA is the dream of the masses -- but not the elites. Foreign elites already have their place in society. They see only America's power, authority and
confidence -- for the simple reason that America's power exceeds their
own.
Power is the prism
through which elites overseas view America. The ''superpower status'' of the USA is the leading
characteristic in foreign elites' descriptions of America. The country's power is
indeed the main cause of anti-Americanism in the world.
As for
''American culture,'' the term hardly exists in the lexicon of foreign elites.
When we ranked the images used among elites abroad for the USA, ''rich culture or strong educational
institutions'' ranked 37th; ''technologically advanced'' was 14th. Even
''brave, courageous or bold'' ranked 31st. These and many other positive U.S.
images were eclipsed by ''tries to impose its will on other countries'' (second
place), ''cares only for its narrow interest'' (fifth), ''warlike'' (sixth),
''hypocritical'' (eighth), ''arrogant'' (10th) and ''terrorist'' (13th).
''In
many ways, we are viewed as the rich guy living on the hill,'' said former
secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news
- web
sites), chairwoman of the Pew global survey.
Albright
is almost right. America is the rich guy on the hill, loved by many in other
countries but despised by the elites who control those countries' institutions.
Given that, anti-Americanism will likely persist as long as the U.S. storehouse of military and economic power holds.
Vladimir
Shlapentokh is a professor at Michigan State University; Joshua Woods is a graduate student in the MSU sociology
department.
