United States National Will

The work addresses the problem of the concept of national will. Present concepts are held to be inadequate because they arbitrarily separate national will from the political decision-making process and because they are psychologically unsound. As a result the concepts are of limited value in understanding the way in which national will is expressed in the United States. A hypothesis: "United States national will is the collective intent of the group empowered to decide policy on a given issue" is proposed. Utilizing the concepts of group psychodynamics developed by W. R. Bion a model for United States national will is constructed from the hypothesis. The model requires that issues be defined in relation to the psychodynamics of the group involved with the particular issue. It shows how changes in the issue can result from communications within the group or from communications to outsiders. Such changes in issue are held to produce a new group, whether or not the group membership changes. The model also shows that national will becomes the expression of the decision made by the group, provided the group controls the resources necessary to enact its decision. When this model is applied to two case studies in recent American foreign policy action, the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, it fits the data available. Also, the model allows for more complete understanding of how these foreign policy actions related to public opinion at the time than do other concepts of national will. The new concept has implications for policy-makers and suggests areas for further study which might lead to more effective leadership of public opinion.