This article explores the effects of variations in types of foreign policy issues and their contexts on the foreign policy-making behavior of American elites. The findings and conclusions are based on an examination of elite responses to 65 cases involving threats to American objectives...

The paper reviews the theoretical formulations and the empirical tests of the proposition that external conflict increases internal cohesion. Literature from sociology, anthropology, psychology, and political science is discussed. Though it is often assumed to be true and is easily illustrated,...