Date Thesis Awarded
4-2024
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
International Relations
Advisor
Susan Peterson
Committee Members
Daniel Maliniak
Amy Limoncelli
Abstract
Many scholars agree: identity plays a significant role in shaping political opinion. What about foreign policy opinions, though? The literature on ethnic identity focuses on how ethnic identity affects domestic political opinion and political activism, paying little attention to its effect on foreign policy opinions. However, in a nation like the United States, where ethnic interest groups hold much power to influence US foreign policy, it is important to understand how people’s ethnic identity affects their foreign policy opinions about homeland politics. The Greek diaspora is widely considered one of the most politically involved diasporas in the US. By conducting a nationally representative survey, oversampling members of the Greek diaspora, this project investigates whether and to what extent one’s Greek ethnic identity affects one’s opinions about EU-Greece relations. Developing an ethnic identity index to define respondents’ “Greekness,” this project seeks to illuminate how strength of ethnic identity differentially affects foreign policy opinions about homeland politics. The results suggest that the higher one’s strength of Greek ethnic identity, the more likely one is to hold foreign policy opinions that prioritize Greek national interests.
Recommended Citation
Tzafolias, Iliana, "Defining Greekness: The Effect of Ethnic Identity on Foreign Policy Opinions" (2024). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 2184.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/2184
