Small Events in High Politics: Diplomacy and Cooperation in US-China Relations

• In Event: Text-as-Data, Archives, and Diplomacy

Abstract

Can diplomacy facilitate trust and cooperation between security-seeking states? To answer this question, I use archival and computational methods to assemble original datasets of US-China interactions and US perceptions of China between 1969 and 1992. To minimize endogeneity concerns, I employ a dynamic causal inference estimator. The evidence suggests that Chinese diplomacy improves American perceptions of China and increases the probability of bilateral cooperation. Contra a large body of received wisdom, talk is not always cheap in international politics. Diplomacy may facilitate trust and cooperation even in environments characterized by high levels of suspicion.

Author

• Erin Baggott Carter, University of Southern California