Modelling Chinese Youth Support for Military Intervention in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: Beyond Nationalism and Militarism

Kingsley Edney; Wang Bo; Graeme Alan Marshall Davies

doi:10.1177/0022002722114397

Modelling Chinese Youth Support for Military Intervention in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: Beyond Nationalism and Militarism

Kingsley Edney, Wang Bo, Graeme Alan Marshall Davies

Politics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Research on public opinion and foreign policy in China has focused on
nationalism as the driver behind public support for the use of force.
However, nationalism is just one of many potentially significant factors
that can increase support for military deployments. In this article we
build a mediation model to test the relative effects of psychological
predispositions, foreign policy attitudes, perceptions of the opposing
state and calculations about the likely outcome of the conflict on support
for China sending naval forces to the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.
We find that dislike of the Japanese government and a belief that China
would be victorious in a conflict with Japan are both powerful predictors
of support for the use of force. Nationalism and militarism directly
increase support but also indirectly increase it via different pathways.
Nationalists are more confident in a Chinese victory while militarists have
a stronger dislike of the Japanese government.

Original language	English
Number of pages	27
Journal	Journal of Conflict Resolution
Early online date	4 Dec 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002722114397
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 4 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1177/0022002722114397Licence: CC BY

00220027221143971
© The Author(s) 2022
Final published version, 752 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{370a267020144347a7d533e5b40dcda2,

title = "Modelling Chinese Youth Support for Military Intervention in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: Beyond Nationalism and Militarism",

abstract = "Research on public opinion and foreign policy in China has focused onnationalism as the driver behind public support for the use of force.However, nationalism is just one of many potentially significant factorsthat can increase support for military deployments. In this article webuild a mediation model to test the relative effects of psychologicalpredispositions, foreign policy attitudes, perceptions of the opposingstate and calculations about the likely outcome of the conflict on supportfor China sending naval forces to the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.We find that dislike of the Japanese government and a belief that Chinawould be victorious in a conflict with Japan are both powerful predictorsof support for the use of force. Nationalism and militarism directlyincrease support but also indirectly increase it via different pathways.Nationalists are more confident in a Chinese victory while militarists havea stronger dislike of the Japanese government. ",

author = "Kingsley Edney and Wang Bo and Davies, {Graeme Alan Marshall}",

note = "{\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

day = "4",

doi = "10.1177/0022002722114397",

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Conflict Resolution",

issn = "0022-0027",

publisher = "SAGE",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Modelling Chinese Youth Support for Military Intervention in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: Beyond Nationalism and Militarism

AU - Edney, Kingsley

AU - Bo, Wang

AU - Davies, Graeme Alan Marshall

PY - 2022/12/4

Y1 - 2022/12/4

N2 - Research on public opinion and foreign policy in China has focused onnationalism as the driver behind public support for the use of force.However, nationalism is just one of many potentially significant factorsthat can increase support for military deployments. In this article webuild a mediation model to test the relative effects of psychologicalpredispositions, foreign policy attitudes, perceptions of the opposingstate and calculations about the likely outcome of the conflict on supportfor China sending naval forces to the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.We find that dislike of the Japanese government and a belief that Chinawould be victorious in a conflict with Japan are both powerful predictorsof support for the use of force. Nationalism and militarism directlyincrease support but also indirectly increase it via different pathways.Nationalists are more confident in a Chinese victory while militarists havea stronger dislike of the Japanese government.

AB - Research on public opinion and foreign policy in China has focused onnationalism as the driver behind public support for the use of force.However, nationalism is just one of many potentially significant factorsthat can increase support for military deployments. In this article webuild a mediation model to test the relative effects of psychologicalpredispositions, foreign policy attitudes, perceptions of the opposingstate and calculations about the likely outcome of the conflict on supportfor China sending naval forces to the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.We find that dislike of the Japanese government and a belief that Chinawould be victorious in a conflict with Japan are both powerful predictorsof support for the use of force. Nationalism and militarism directlyincrease support but also indirectly increase it via different pathways.Nationalists are more confident in a Chinese victory while militarists havea stronger dislike of the Japanese government.

U2 - 10.1177/0022002722114397

DO - 10.1177/0022002722114397

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-0027

JO - Journal of Conflict Resolution

JF - Journal of Conflict Resolution

ER -