Discussions and Reviews : From national character to national behavior: a reformulation
| Author | Kenneth W. Terhune |
| Published date | 01 June 1970 |
| Date | 01 June 1970 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002200277001400206 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Discussions
and
Reviews
From
national
character
to
national
behavior:
a
reformulation
KENNETH
W.
TERHUNE
1
Cornell Aeronautical
Laboratory
Introduction
While
national
character
is
a
subject
that
has
intrigued
social
scientists
for
many
years,
it
is
rarely
considered
in
theories
of
inter-
national
behavior.
The
major
reasons
seem
to
be
that:
(a)
the
study
of
national
character
is
fraught
with
conceptual
confusions
and
meth-
odological
difficulties;
(b)
many
social scien-
tists
question
whether
modern,
complex,
culturally-mixed
nations
can
&dquo;have&dquo;
a
nation-
al
character;
(c)
national
character,
if it
exists,
is
thought
to
be
applicable
to
the
masses
with-
in
a
nation,
but
not
to
the
politically
relevant
elites
and
leaders;
and
(d)
even
if
political
elites
exhibit
qualities
of
the
character
of
a
nation,
their
decisions
are
thought
to be
in-
fluenced
mainly
by
the
hard
facts
of
power,
’This
monograph
is
an
elaboration
and
revision
of
the
author’s
chapter
in
a
report
prepared
by
Joseph
M.
Firestone,
"Intentions
Analysis:
A
Methodological
Component
of
Forecasting
Inter-
national
Behavior,"
under
Contract
F29-(600)-
67-C-0059
with
the
Office
of
Research
Analyses,
Holloman
Air
Force
Base,
New
Mexico.
Gratitude
is
expressed
to
the
Air
Force
for
supporting
the
initial
effort,
and
to
Joseph
Firestone
for
his
many
helpful
suggestions.
geography,
economics,
and
history.
The
pur-
pose
of
this
monograph
is
to
take
a
new
look
at
national
character
to
see
if,
despite
the
various
objections,
it
may
still
be
useful
for
understanding
and
predicting
national
be-
havior.
In
so
doing,
discussion
will
focus
specifically
on
how
national
character
can
be
conceived,
measured,
and
incorporated
into
predictive
models
better
than
has
been
the
case
in
previous
discussions,
which
have
considered
the
relation
of national
character
to
national
behavior
only
in
a
very
general
way.
It
is
hoped,
furthermore,
that
the
analy-
sis
will
lead
to
the
resolution
of
some
of
the
&dquo;pageant
of
problems&dquo;
with
which
Duijker
and
Frijda
(1960)
felt
compelled
to
introduce
their
book
on
national
character.
Essentially,
then,
the
objective
here
is
to
reveal
the
potential
of
national
character
for
predicting
national
behavior.
It
is
not
ex-
pected
that
knowledge
of
national
character
will
ever
enable
us
to
specify
exactly,
in
ad-
vance,
that
country
A
will
take
action
X
at
time
T.
Predictions
need
not
be
that
specific
to
be
useful,
however.
Of
course,
the
more
specific
they
are,
while
maintaining
a
good
ratio
of
&dquo;hits&dquo;
to
&dquo;misses,&dquo;
the
more
useful
204
predictions
will
be.
We
do
not
know
how
pre-
dictable
national
behavior
ever
will
be,
so
in
this
monograph
we
shall
be
content
with
con-
sidering
whether
national
character
is
relevant
at
all
to
national
behavior
and
if
so,
what
form
a
predictive
model
should
take.
This
paper
is
not
meant
to
be
a
review
of
the
national
character
of
specific
countries.
Substantive
findings
have
been
brought
in
only
for
the
purpose
of
shedding
light
on
the
major
issues.
For
the
reader
interested
in
the
findings
about
specific
countries,
good
sources
with
which
to
start
are
Duijker