Who gets the guns? How democratic values and security threats affect American attitudes toward military aid

Journal article

The United States gives substantial aid to the militaries of autocratic governments. US officials claim these aid relationships are necessary to manage security threats, but others contest them as antithetical to US values of democracy and human rights. How do these competing concerns shape Americans' attitudes toward military aid? Through an experiment implemented on three surveys, I document a strong preference for aiding democracies that outweighs the effect of security threats. However, the robustness of this preference is affected by foreign policy orientation, with internationalists less likely to prioritize democratic values when security threats are present. Descriptive survey questions explore this pattern further, showing how internationalists who support military aid the most tend to be strong but fickle proponents of democratic values in US foreign policy. The article extends research on attitudes toward foreign aid and illustrates an important limitation to the influence of democracy on Americans' foreign policy preferences.

Authors: Williamson, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: Journal of Conflict Resolution
• Publication date: 2025-10-28
• Acceptance date: 2025-08-08
• DOI: 10.1177/00220027251388634
• EISSN: 1552-8766
• ISSN: 0022-0027
• Language: English
• Keywords: democracy; foreign aid; terrorism; domestic politics; foreign policy; human rights