International Relations of the Asia-Pacific Advance Access originally published online on August 1, 2008
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 2008 8(3):303-324; doi:10.1093/irap/lcn013
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This article appears in the following International Relations of the Asia-Pacific issue: SPECIAL ISSUE: Research outcomes from the AsiaBarometer project [View the issue table of contents]
Anti-Americanism in Asia? Factors shaping international perceptions of American influence
Department of Political Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA
Email: matthew.carlson{at}uvm.edu
travis.nelson{at}uvm.edu
Against the backdrop of 9/11 and the Bush administration's subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many have argued that international perceptions of the United States are growing more negative and that ‘anti-Americanism’ is going to be a problem for American foreign policy in the decades to come. We examine the debate over anti-Americanism by using survey data collected in more than 26 countries that span East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia, with a focus on two empirical questions. First, to what extent do citizens in Asia believe that the United States has a negative (or positive) influence on their country? Second, what factors, at both the individual and national level, shape the perceptions of American influence? Although we uncover little evidence of pervasive anti-Americanism, the results of our multilevel model generally confirm the theoretical importance of three explanations for international perceptions of the United States—interest theories, cultural and political similarities, and increased information and contacts.
Received for publication June 10, 2008. Accepted for publication June 19, 2008.