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Democracy versus Autocracy in Foreign Policy: Public Attitudes toward China in the Asia-Pacific Region

February 7 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

This is part of Global Research Workshop series: Developing an Interdisciplinary Research Platform Toward ‘Next Asia’ co-sponsored by Stanford Global Studies.
ABSTRACT of the research paper presented:
While the U.S. frames the growing geopolitical tensions with China as a strategic competition between democracy and autocracy, such a value diplomacy may have not been as effective in promoting liberal values as expected, especially in non-western regions. This is because citizens in these countries, due to a relatively short democratic history, tend to understand democracy in terms of electoral institutions rather than liberal values, thereby limiting the effectiveness of U.S. value diplomacy. To test this proposition, this study analyzes public attitudes toward China in the Asia-Pacific region, where the U.S.-China competition is most acute. Using a country-level cross-national analysis and an original survey experiment in South Korea, this study finds that China’s perceived threats to electoral institutions are more likely to generate unfavorable views toward the country than its perceived threats to liberal values. The findings not only advance our understanding of the role of democracy in forming public opinion on foreign policy but also offer important policy implications for the U.S. value diplomacy.
Presenter: Gidong Kim, Korea Program Postdoctoral Fellow, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
Discussant: Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Associate Professor, LBJ School of Publlic Affairs, University of Texas
Discussant: Kenneth Schultz, William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science and director of the Program in International Relations, Stanford University

Venue

Encina Hall, 3rd Floor, Okimoto Conference Room