In a truly democratic society there needs to be a balance between individual freedom of conscience and safety against, say terrorism. It is felt that the "war on terrorism" is often a pretext to increase police powers at the expense of individual freedoms and the right to dissent ie to freedom of speech. If the state is reaching out to other countries and helping them with for example natural disasters relief like hurricanes and earthquakes rather than making war on them and causing death and destruction then it can be respected in the world and be less susceptible to terrorist attacks. Basically, if people are being treated well they usually respond well.
