Opinion formation in foreign policy: the Swiss experience

Applying John Zaller's model of opinion formation to survey data covering 1 5 years (1981-95) of direct democracy in Switzerland, this paper provides a contribution to the debate about opinion formation in foreign policy. On t he one hand, the Swiss experience contradicts the widespread view that citi zens are poorly informed about and little interested in foreign affairs. On the other hand, direct democracy often translates into governmental defeat s in this field. We address these mixed results and show that opinion forma tion in foreign policy is not a special case, and differs from that in dome stic policy only with respect to the circumstances under which it occurs. I n particular, we highlight the unusual type and level of conflict within th e elite on foreign policy issues, which translates into distinct patterns o f attitudes among the public. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.