African attitudes toward foreign countries: A hierarchical approach

Abstract

This study uses a hierarchical statistical model to explore what drives African attitudes toward foreign countries, an understudied and underappreciated topic in the fields of African studies, political psychology and international relations. Enabled by increasing access to information, technology and resources, African peoples across the continent are directing their national stages like never before. Yet when it comes to international engagements on the continent, there is little scholarly focus on African sentiment toward foreign countries. The present study finds that the drivers of attitudes toward foreign countries vary, depending on which foreign country is under consideration by the respondent. For China, positive sentiment is associated with individuals who report having assets, belong to the president’s party, view domestic governance positively, are more politically interested, are more trusting, are educated and are more frequent news consumers. While political interest, trust, education, news consumption and positive evaluation of domestic governance also correspond to positive attitudes toward the USA, so does being employed and perceiving the domestic government as corrupt. When it comes to attitudes toward former colonies, trust, education, news consumption, positive evaluations of domestic governance, perceiving the domestic government as corrupt, employment, identification with the president’s party and support for democracy are associated with positive sentiment. For China, the USA and former colonies, negative sentiment is associated with individuals who identify as Muslim.