Outside Threats and Public Perceptions of the US Military in Poland

• In Event: Forward Deployment, Coercive Diplomacy, and Conflict

Abstract

In our previous work, we have found that more active engagement with local civilian populations by U.S. military members deployed abroad leads to more positive perceptions of the U.S. military, people, and government. In particular, we have conducted surveys in Poland that show that the Polish population has some of the most positive perceptions of U.S. actors among states that host large U.S. deployments. We believe that this trend may be driven by Poland’s proximity to Russia and the security threat that Russia represents for the Polish population. The U.S. military presence is thus a reassurance of the American commitment to defend Poland from Russian aggression. In this project we use a survey experiment in Poland to study the effect of an outside threat on a state’s willingness to host foreign forces, and on the population’s perception of that military presence.

Authors

• Carla Martinez Machain, University at Buffalo

• Michael E. Flynn, Kansas State University

• Michael A. Allen, Boise State University