| dc.description.abstract |
The empirical study of soft power presents a challenge for social scientists. Conventional
wisdom asserts that China’s soft power is growing alongside its hard power, but few
scholars have been able to demonstrate this phenomenon empirically. This paper represents
a first-cut effort at operationalizing and measuring the so-called Beijing Consensus
(or China Model), a form of state capitalism which some see as an ideological alternative
to the Washington Consensus and a challenge to American soft power. Using public opinion
data from the Asian Barometer Survey (ABS), I attempt to empirically demonstrate the
appeal of the China Model in Asia. I operationalize the Beijing Consensus both directly,
by establishing the relationship between a respondent’s attitude towards Chinese influence
and his/her preference for China as a model of development, and indirectly, by measuring
attitudes towards China’s influence and attitudes towards democracy. I find that in
the Asian countries represented by the ABS, affinity for Chinese influence had negligible
impact on the respondent’s desire to adopt the China Model. Furthermore, no relationship
could be found between favorable attitudes towards China and preference for democracy.
My research shows that those who portray China as an ideological threat to the United
States have dramatically overstated their case and must substantiate their position
with evidence.
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