Can Economic Interdependence Dampen Nationalism? The Peace-Loving Public in China

Abstract

The paper starts with a core proposition of liberalism originating from Immanuel Kant: international commerce is incompatible with inter-state wars. Perceiving economic benefits from international cooperation, peace-loving publics burgeon and refrain state leaders from adhering to policies of aggression. Nevertheless, some proponents of the democratic peace theory argue that the pacifying effect of economic interdependence is contingent on the pacifist union of democratic states. Current literature on Chinese nationalism is in line with the argument and highlights a homogeneous trend of the uprising nationalism together with the rising economic power of China. I disagree with the view and argue that economic interdependence can powerfully reshape public interests even under the typical authoritarian context. I also argue that dovish preference of the emerging middle-class citizens in China who benefit most from international cooperation is politically important and exerts influence over the Chinese foreign policies. My argument is supported by empirical results based on the Google Trend Index from 2006 to 2012 and a recent survey experiment with over 2,000 Chinese respondents.