Congressional attitudes toward missile defense
Subtitle: implications for NMD from the sea /c David Alan Adams
Contributors: Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.) 
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 119
Description: Pursuing a ship-based missile defense capability could thrust the naval service into one of the most heated controversies of the past three decades: the congressional debate over the desirability--or danger--of erecting widespread ballistic missile defenses. To better understand the influences on congressional attitudes, this study examines five divisive congressional debates over missile defense. In contrast to traditional explanations that focus on the causal factors underlying congressional voting behavior, this thesis emphasizes the political process of framing issues to create the political climates that shape congressional attitudes and link them to voting  decisions. This thesis shows that major shifts in missile defense policy occur when key individuals successfully manipulate powerful images to legitimize and popularize arguments favoring their desired policy option. Understanding how elites use images to shape political attitudes provides a framework for charting and navigating the congressional storm that is likely to surround the deployment of future Navy missile defense systems.
Notes: "December 1997."

Thesis advisor(s): James J. Wirtz, Peter R. Lavoy.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1997.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-115)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 05/08/98.