Tensions Mount With Russia Over Georgia War

This has been a wild week for U.S. foreign policy – relations with Russia have deteriorated dramatically over the war with Georgia, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a longtime U.S. ally, may be forced out of office.

The American public has been anxious and dissatisfied with the direction of U.S. foreign policy for years, based on our Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index. If you're looking for reactions to the past week's events, however, it's fair to say the public isn't strongly engaged. So far, the public isn't following these situations closely and doesn't know a lot about the places involved.

The Pew Research Center's weekly news index reported yesterday that 17 percent of the public followed the news from Georgia "very closely" and 37 percent didn't follow it at all. By contrast, 24 percent said they followed the Olympics closely. (If you're still trying to make sense of the tangled Russo-Georgian relationship, these articles from Slate and The New York Times may help).

U.S. policymakers consider Pakistan a vital front in the fight against al Qaeda, but it's not nearly as big a concern for the public. In the spring edition of our Foreign Policy Index, 30 percent said they worried "a lot" that Pakistan might provide a safe haven for al Qaeda, and that's the lowest rating of all the concerns in the survey. We also found about three in 10 Americans gave the U.S. an A or B grade for working with the Pakistani government to hunt down anti-American terrorists. But 18 percent said they didn't know enough to say, and that's a significant number – anytime you get double-digit "don't knows," survey results should be considered very volatile.

A lot of foreign policy professionals would say results like these are why the public's views don't matter, and shouldn't matter, in international affairs. But that's a misread of how the public engages with these questions. It's true, the public doesn't follow foreign affairs closely, and as a result they're much more willing to let the professionals handle these problems – unless they believe policy is seriously off course. Then the public insists on being heard.

We've seen the same pattern in the Foreign Policy Index results on several issues over the last few years, particularly the war in Iraq and our dependence on foreign energy. In those areas, the public's anxiety has really made their views a force to be reckoned with for policymakers. Relations with Russia and Pakistan aren't anywhere near that level yet. If these become long-term challenges, however, or if these become viewed as direct threats, the public may take more of a role.