External Threats and Support for International Security Cooperation
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Authors
Becker, Jordan
DiGiuseppe, Matthew
Jee, Haemin
Kim, Tongfi
Issue Date
2024-10-10
Type
Conference presentations, papers, posters
Language
Keywords
Survey Experiment , International Relations , Japan , Alliances , Asia
Alternative Title
Abstract
Are voters more willing to accept external security commitments when international threats increase? While much work in international relations treats threats as key drivers of international behavior, we know little about whether bodies politic change attitudes toward important foreign and security policy questions based on changes in threats, threat perceptions, or even information about threats. We address this question about the relationship between threats and attitudes toward security commitments by fielding a pre-registered survey experiment in Japan. 1 Our experiment explores the micro-foundations of international security cooperation by using information about the probability of war between China and Taiwan to increase the perception of threat among our survey respondents. We find that information about the threat of war does, in fact, significantly increase public support for security cooperation in Japan, regardless of whether the posited cooperation is with Australia, India, South Korea, or the United States. Our findings suggest that while the public may oppose security cooperation in peacetime, there is more support for cooperation when threats are made salient.
Description
Citation
Becker, J., DiGiuseppe, M., Jee, H., & Kim, T. (2024). External Threats and Support for International Security Cooperation (SSRN Scholarly Paper 4949045). https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4949045
Publisher
N/A