American Jews’ Participation in US Foreign Affairs: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

This systematic review examines how peer‐reviewed scholarship published since 2000 portrays American Jewish participation in US foreign affairs. Drawing on 50 articles identified through Scopus and Web of Science, the review uses multi‐track diplomacy as an analytical framework to analyse participants, issue areas, spatiotemporal patterns, motivations, reported effects, and constraints. The literature depicts this participation as a heterogeneous field of official and non‐official engagement, with no uniform pattern of influence. Reported motivations centre on Israel's security and US–Israel relations, the rights and survival of diaspora Jews, and alignment with US strategic interests or liberal values. Reported effects range from agenda‐setting and policy gains to failure, backlash, and constraints. The literature also remains divided over the definition of US national interests, the legitimacy of diaspora engagement, and the scope of collective Jewish responsibility.