Hate Crime in the US and International Reputation: Evidence from 11 Countries

• In Event: Reputation and Resolve

Abstract

What determines a country's international reputation? Most existing studies focus on leaders' international choices as the main factor influencing a country's international reputation. We argue that domestic events and policy responses can also significantly influence a country's international reputation. Using a model of informational quasi-Bayesian opinion updating, we develop a theoretical framework to understand the conditions under which the foreign public change its perception of a country's reputation. We test the empirical implications of our theoretical model using an original survey experiment in 11 countries by providing information about the rise of hate crimes in the United States and related domestic policy responses, and examine how they affect foreign public attitudes towards the United States. We find that providing information about the rise of hate crime increased unfavorable views of the U.S. by 10% points. More importantly, providing additional information about domestic countermeasures reduced the unfavorable views of the U.S. by 3.5% points. We further consider the mechanisms through which the impact of countermeasure information on reducing unfavorable views work by examining the treatment effects heterogeneity by country- and individual-level characteristics.

Authors

• Joonseok Yang, Yonsei University

• Sung Eun Kim, Korea University

• Jong Hee Park, Seoul National University

• Inbok Rhee, Yonsei University