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Conceptualizing Evangelical Influence In U.S. Foreign Policy: Caught Between Structural Realism And Neoliberal Institutionalism, Glen M.E. Duerr, Amber Thorne-Hamilton

History and Government Faculty Presentations

The Presidency of George W. Bush did much to spotlight the role of Evangelical Christians in the political realm. However, it is arguable that every president since Jimmy Carter has had at least some ties with evangelicalism. The first aspect of this paper is to pin down what an evangelical is. Existing literature on the subject we argue is inadequate and has led to much misunderstanding of evangelical Christians and to simplistic coding procedures in quantitative studies. Second, we narrow this paper into a specific discussion of evangelical influence in foreign policy. Over 80 percent of evangelicals supported Bush in …