Americans have long believed they share a set of common values with other democratic, industrialized countries, especially the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Canada. Yet recent studies show...

Americans have long believed they share a set of common values with other democratic, industrialized countries, especially the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and Canada. Yet recent studies show that majorities in these countries think the spread of American ideas is a bad thing for the world. A Pew Research Center poll of 44 countries, the broadest single opinion poll ever taken, found half of all Britons, twothirds of Germans, and 71 percent of French think the spread of American values is a bad thing (Pew, 2003, 2007). A Harris poll (2004) found Canadians equally divided—36 percent positive, 36 percent negative—in their views of American values.