Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-fcbfl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-04T11:48:41.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Foreign Meddling and Mass Attitudes Toward International Economic Engagement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2020

Sarah Sunn Bush  and
Lauren Prather
Get access

Abstract

What explains variation in individual preferences for foreign economic engagement? Although a large and growing literature addresses that question, little research examines how partner countries affect public opinion on policies such as trade, foreign aid, and investment. We construct a new theory arguing that political side-taking by outside powers shapes individuals’ support for engaging economically with those countries. We test the theory using original surveys in the United States and Tunisia. In both cases, the potential partner country's side-taking in the partisan politics of the respondents’ country dramatically shapes support for foreign economic relations. As the rise of new aid donors, investors, and trade partners creates new choices in economic partners, our theory and findings are critical to understanding mass preferences about open economic engagement.

Keywords

Foreign aidtradepublic opinionexperimentforeign meddlingUnited StatesTunisia
Type
Research Note
Information
International Organization , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , Summer 2020 , pp. 584 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bechtel, Michael M., Hainmueller, Jens, and Margalit, Yotam. 2014. Preferences for International Redistribution: The Divide over the Eurozone Bailouts. American Journal of Political Science 58 (4):835–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, Sarah M., Cunha, Raphael, and Mosley, Layna. 2015. Categories, Creditworthiness, and Contagion: How Investors’ Shortcuts Affect Sovereign Debt Markets. International Studies Quarterly 59 (3):587–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bubeck, Johannes, and Marinov, Nikolay. 2017. Process or Candidate: The International Community and the Demand for Electoral Integrity. American Political Science Review 111 (3):535–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, and Smith, Alastair. 2009. A Political Economy of Aid. International Organization 63 (2):309–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, Sarah Sunn. 2015. The Taming of Democracy Assistance: Why Democracy Promotion Does Not Confront Dictators. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, Sarah Sunn, and Prather, Lauren. 2018. Who's There? Election Observer Identity and the Local Credibility of Elections. International Organization 72 (3):659–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnegie, Allison. 2015. Power Plays: How International Institutions Reshape Coercive Diplomacy. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corstange, Daniel, and Marinov, Nikolay. 2012. Taking Sides in Other People's Elections: The Polarizing Effect of Foreign Intervention. American Journal of Political Science 56 (3):655–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faye, Michael, and Niehaus, Paul. 2012. Political Aid Cycles. The American Economic Review 102 (7):3516–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Findley, Michael G., Harris, Adam S., Milner, Helen V., and Nielson, Daniel. 2017. Who Controls Foreign Aid? Elite Versus Public Perceptions of Donor Influence in Aid-Dependent Uganda. International Organization 71 (4):633–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gowa, Joanne, and Mansfield, Edward D.. 1993. Power Politics and International Trade. American Political Science Review 87 (2):408–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Julia, and Hicks, Raymond P.. 2014. Reputations, Perceptions, and International Economic Agreements. International Interactions 40 (3):325–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2009. Determining Trade Policy: Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable? International Organization 63 (3):533–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guisinger, Alexandra. 2017. American Opinion on Trade: Preferences without Politics. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, Jude C., Ehrlich, Sean D., and Peinhardt, Clint. 2005. Government Spending and Public Support for Trade in the OECD: An Empirical Test of the Embedded Liberalism Thesis. International Organization 59 (2):473–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonski, Ryan. 2014. How Aid Targets Votes: The Impact of Electoral Incentives on Foreign Aid Distribution. World Politics 66 (2):293–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Page, Benjamin I.. 2005. Who Influences US Foreign Policy? American Political Science Review 99 (1):107–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamal, Amaney A. 2012. Of Empires and Citizens: Pro-American Democracy or No Democracy at All? Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Levin, Dov. 2016. When the Great Power Gets a Vote: The Effects of Great Power Electoral Interventions on Election Results. International Studies Quarterly 60 (2):189–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Xiaojun, and Zeng, Ka. 2017. Individual Preferences for FDI in Developing Countries: Experimental Evidence from China. Journal of Experimental Political Science 4 (3):195–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lü, Xiaobo, Scheve, Kenneth, and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2012. Inequity Aversion and the International Distribution of Trade Protection. American Journal of Political Science 56 (3):638–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansfield, Edward D., and Mutz, Diana C.. 2009. Support for Free Trade: Self-interest, Sociotropic Politics, and Out-Group Anxiety. International Organization 63 (3):425–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayda, Anna Maria, and Rodrik, Dani. 2005. Why Are Some People (and Countries) More Protectionist Than Others? European Economic Review 49 (6):1393–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, Helen V., and Tingley, Dustin. 2013. Public Opinion and Foreign Aid: A Review Essay. International Interactions 39 (3):389–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, Helen V., and Tingley, Dustin H.. 2010. The Political Economy of US Foreign Aid: American Legislators and the Domestic Politics of Aid. Economics and Politics 22 (2):200–32.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, Kevin H., and Sinnott, Richard. 2001. The Determinants of Individual Trade Policy Preferences: International Survey Evidence. In Brookings Trade Forum, 157–206.Google Scholar
Owen, Erica, and Johnston, Noel P.. 2017. Occupation and the Political Economy of Trade: Job Routineness, Offshorability, and Protectionist Sentiment. International Organization 71 (4):665–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandya, Sonal S. 2010. Labor Markets and the Demand for Foreign Direct Investment. International Organization 64 (3):389–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Anne Mariel, and Moore, Pete W.. 2009. Beyond Boom and Bust: External Rents, Durable Authoritarianism, and Institutional Adaptation in the Hasehmite Kingdom of Jordan. Studies in Comparative International Development 44 (3):256–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinto, Pablo M., and Pinto, Santiago M.. 2008. The Politics of Investment Partisanship: And the Sectoral Allocation of Foreign Direct Investment. Economics and Politics 20 (2):216–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth F., and Slaughter, Matthew J.. 2001. What Determines Individual Trade-Policy Preferences? Journal of International Economics 54 (2):267–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seawright, Jason, and Gerring, John. 2008. Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research. Political Research Quarterly 61 (2):294–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilker, Gabriele, Bernauer, Thomas, and Umaña, Víctor. 2016. Selecting Partner Countries for Preferential Trade Agreements: Experimental Evidence from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Vietnam. International Studies Quarterly 60 (4):706–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Bush and Prather Supplementary Materials

Bush and Prather Supplementary Materials

Download Bush and Prather Supplementary Materials(PDF)
PDF 285 KB