IR Workshop – Lauren Prather, UC San Diego

DateFebruary 13, 2017

Time3:00pm to 4:30pm

Location
4357 Bunche Hall

Contact

Abstract:What explains variation in individual preferences for foreign economic engagement? Although much ink has been spilled on that question, little research examines how potential partner countries affect public opinion on policies such as trade, foreign aid, and foreign direct investment. We construct a new theory arguing that citizens’ perceptions of political side-taking by outside powers shape their support for engaging economically with those countries. We use original survey experiments fielded in a developed country, the United States, and a developing country, Tunisia, to test the theory. In both cases, we find that the potential partners’ side-taking in the partisan politics of the respondents’ country dramatically shapes support for foreign economic relations with other countries along partisan lines. As the rise of new aid donors, investors, and trade partners create new choices in economic partners, the theory and findings contained in this article are critical to understanding mass preferences about open economic engagement.

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