Keywords

China; Soft Power; Hard Power; Item Response Theory; Global Affinity

Abstract

As the People’s Republic of China continues its attempt to match the United States as a global hegemon, it has put forth significant efforts to build influence and gain the support of smaller countries around the globe utilizing both hard and soft power. However, the question remains whether these efforts have resulted in greater favorability toward China. This study seeks to answer this question. I use a Bayesian Item Response Theory (IRT) model to generate latent measures of Chinese hard and soft power around the globe using data on Chinese economic aid, alliances, diplomatic exchanges, and security assistance. This is coupled with voting data from the United Nations to determine the nature of the relationship between Chinese influence-building efforts and a nation’s affinity toward China. This research has both practical and theoretical implications. These findings can serve as a guide for policy makers by determining what has worked for China building in their sphere of influence. These findings will also speak more broadly to larger theoretical questions about how superpowers build and exert influence on and what is the impact of competition between great powers can also be drawn, specifically with the IRT latent model to quantify these impacts.

Thesis Completion Year

2024

Thesis Completion Semester

Fall

Thesis Chair

Boutton, Andrew

College

College of Sciences

Department

School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs

Thesis Discipline

Political Science

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright