Do people need foreign enemies? American leaders' beliefs after the Sovietdemise

The authors use the collapse of the Soviet Union to test the hypothesis tha t some people are psychologically predisposed to "need enemies." The findin gs from the 1988-1992 Leadership Opinion Project (LOP) panel data show that those respondents who had been highly suspicious of Soviet motives before the end of the cold war are more likely to view other countries with suspic ion and to perceive the international environment as dangerous after the So viet collapse. There is no evidence that people have actually transferred o ld fears about the Soviet Union onto a replacement enemy. China is the coun try most frequently named as the United States' main adversary after the co ld war, making it the most likely object for the transference of hostility. Yet, even the most ardently anti-Soviet respondents do not exhibit greater fear or animosity toward China after they have lost their old enemy.