The Place of Foreign Policy at the Border -- Borderline Attitudes or Deep-Rooted Social Orientations?

Do U.S. citizens at the border between Mexico and the U.S. show a distinctive set of foreign policy orientations and sensitivity due to their proximity to the most ?foreign? of the U.S.?s borders? A representative survey of El Paso, Texas residents tests the following counterintuitive hypotheses: (1) Those who share a strong borderlands identity are the most likely to hold essentially isolationist attitudes; (2) Affinity for Mexicans and Mexico is inversely related to cooperative internationalist attitudes; and (3) Those most integrated into the local socio-political system will be the most economically protectionist. These seemingly contradictory attitudes are not "borderline/top-of-the-head thinking" but are rooted in the socioeconomic realities of a border which is isolated from the world at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]