Perceptions of the Arab World on U.S Relations: An Examination of Attitudes Towards U.S Foreign Policy and the American People

Background: Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have increased interest in the region and its people; however, little attention has been given to how citizens of different Arab-speaking countries view U.S regional foreign policies. ‘War on terror’ rhetoric and promotion of Western ideals of democracy and reform have been used to justify direct and militaristic U.S. intervention in MENA countries. The practical effects of enacting these policies on the U.S. attitudes of MENA country citizens have not been assessed.  This study addressed this gap through secondary analysis of a large general population survey conducted in 10 MENA countries.

Methods: Date were obtained from the Arab Barometer: Public Opinion Survey conducted in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen. A total of 12,782 participants spread approximately evenly across countries were interviewed between November 2010 and October 2011.The primary DVs were three questions addressing U.S relations measured on 3 or 5 point Likert scales from strongly agree to strongly disagree: 1) U.S regional interference justifies armed operations against the U.S everywhere; 2) despite U.S foreign policy, Americans are good people; and 3) American and Western cultures have positive aspects. Generalized logistical regressions using data weighted for sampling probabilities modeled responses to these questions as ordinal DVs. The main IV was country of origin controlling for age, sex, educational level, time spent abroad and whether external versus internal factors caused lack of development in the Arab world.

Results: The majority of countries surveyed fostered negative attitudes towards the U.S. with the main exceptions being Lebanese and Tunisian respondents, who were the most likely to agree that Western culture has positive aspects (OR=2.7 & 2.6, respectively; p < .001). Sudan reported the least favorable attitudes towards American people (OR=.79; p<.01) and American culture (OR=.61; p<.001). Among model covariates, having more education was also associated with increased odds of supporting the belief that Americans are good people (OR=1.3; p < .001) and with having positive views of American culture (OR=1.3; p < .001). Males were more likely to approve armed operations against the U.S (OR=1.3; p < .001) and respondents attributing the lack of development in the Arab world to external factors also had more negative attitudes towards the U.S (OR=.54; p < .001).

Implications: Most countries in the MENA region hold anti-American sentiments with the main exceptions of Tunisia and Lebanon. Lebanon was the only country surveyed with a substantial proportion of Christian respondents, possibly influencing the more positive responses towards U.S relations and Western culture in that country. As a profession that advocates for social justice and focuses on changing larger systems, social work scholarship has not given much attention to macro U.S. foreign policy dynamics as they affect Arabs and Arab Americans. To better inform policy and advocacy that affect Arab immigrant groups within the U.S., we need a more nuanced understanding of how current policies and interventions have framed their attitudes, fostering and perpetuating largely negative perceptions of the U.S.