The Domestic Political Consequences of Global Economic Expansion in Rising Powers

October 21, 2022 | Rising powers typically seek to play a larger role in international economic affairs. In a recent study, David A. Steinberg and his collaborators examined the domestic political consequences of rising states’ efforts to increase their foreign economic influence. They surmised that successful global economic expansion increases (or failed expansion decreases) public support for incumbent governments. To test this argument, they fielded three original survey experiments in China, each focusing on a different component of China’s foreign economic strategy. In this talk, Steinberg will explain how in all three experiments, they found that informing individuals that China has failed to increase its role in the global economy reduced average levels of government satisfaction. The evidence suggests that this drop in government approval is driven by a weakened sense of national pride. The study underscores the domestic political risks and rewards that rising powers like China must weigh when expanding their country’s global economic presence.