Term Paper on The Rally around the Flag
Theory
The rally-around-the-flag effect has conventionally served as one of the most
important factors to bring an increase in presidential approval ratings. In
addition to this, several studies have revealed that with an increase in public
concern towards the national security and with an increase in perceived threat
to the United States, the rate of presidential approval tends to increase to a
significant level. Moreover, scholars also believe that the use of rally around
the flag phenomenon allows the governments to make unjustified use of their
authorities. For instance, several critics have pointed out that the
rally-around-the-flag phenomenon, to some extent, provides enough leverage to
the politicians to make use of military force against their opponents. This
enables them to distract the attention of the general public from domestic
problems and government’s poor performance the domestic level. While ample
subjective substantiation seems to exist on the issue, validating such a
speculation, the collective information available on the issue indicates a
relatively mixed support towards this theory.
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Studies conducted in this regard claim that the governments try to accordingly
mold their foreign policies so that their domestic political and economic
susceptibility can be hidden behind the “critical” foreign policy issues on
hand. This effort to externalize the internal or domestic weaknesses or problems
is supported by the individual’s support to governmental decisions to “protect”
the national interests and secure the national integrity. While debating on the
issue, one can consider the several strategic or historical circumstances, which
are considered important by the governments in devising their strategic and
military strategies against their opponents abroad. In this regard, one can
argue that in circumstances where the politicians find a reasonably good
opportunity to exploit the foreign policy issues in order to hide their domestic
weaknesses, the diversionary use of military force is made. This factor leads to
a higher rate of presidential approvals and decision making related to the use
of force against the foreign opponents. As is the case with most of the nations,
there is a considerable level of mistrust and hatred among the rival nations,
political leaders of a country can very easily influence the foreign affairs in
order to fulfill their own personal needs and satisfy their political goals.
There is a considerable level of evidence in this regard and the most recent one
is the Bush’s use of military power in the war against terrorism. However, one
should note that the use of military force to drift away public’s attention
might not lead to the resolution of domestic weaknesses or problems. In fact,
the disturbance at the domestic level may further lead to an increase in the
possibility of military action and later to a war like situation. To further
provide the evidence of the authenticity of rally around the flag theory and to
prove the above-mentioned philosophy, a recent example is quoted below.
In the verge of the weakening economic situation and the rise in domestic
problems, the approval ratings of President Bush begun to drop down. His
domestic agenda was going down to drain and his policies relating to tax cuts;
environmental issues etc. were at stake. The best possible option available to
him in order to get rid of the situation was to focus his attention towards
foreign policy issues. By getting extensively involved in foreign policy
matters, his government can successfully create and image of leadership and
integrity, which may lead the public to “rally around the flag”. Several
recently conducted studies have revealed that only in case of China, his
approval ratings have significantly increased despite the fact that his prior
approval ratings were slipping down because of the worsening economy. This
confirms to the notion that during a warlike situation, the presidential
approval ratings tend to rise. However, it also points out towards a bitter
reality that the intentions behind the increased approval ratings are purely
political and have nothing to do with national interests.
Bush’s case is an example of a similar situation faced by his father during the
Gulf war era. Bush senior enjoyed the benefits of the rally around the flag
effect during the Gulf war period to counter the negative effects of the bleak
economy and so did his son. However, it can be said that Bush himself was not
responsible for manufacturing the crisis but was unintentionally engaged in a
crisis situation. However, one can argue that he has unnecessarily prolonged the
crisis. On the other hand, President Clinton’s attacks on African locations,
suspected to be the property of Osama Bin Laden, during the peak of the Monica
Lewinsky scandal can be termed as a prime example to manipulate foreign policies
to hide domestic weaknesses or problems. In case of Bush’s campaign against
terrorism, he still have full support of the general public but one should note
that this support will not last for long. As soon as the problems at the
domestic level will begin to gain momentum, the anxiety of the public against
Bush’s aggressive foreign policies will increase.
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