Culture or Security? How Gender Trumps Geopolitics in Shaping Support for Trade

• In Event: Trade and Gender

Abstract

Do people prioritize cultural considerations or geopolitical factors in determining their support for international trade with strategic partners? International relations scholars argue that countries prefer to trade with allies than with enemies due to geopolitical considerations. But we know little about how people update their attitudes on trade when they experience cultural differences with their allies. We propose and test two mechanisms – learning and priming – by which individuals shape their attitudes towards trade cooperation when there is a misalignment between geopolitical needs and cultural values. We test our theories in the context of gender norm compatibility (e.g., feminism and legalization of same-sex marriage) between the US and South Korea, conducting a survey experiment on the South Korean mass public and interviews with experts and activists. We expect to find that individuals with strong gender norms will decrease their support for trade with the US if their prior gender norms deviate from the ally’s preferred gender norms, rather than learning from the ally and updating their own gender norms. This study supports the view that low and private political issues of gender may have significant consequences on international cooperation in high politics.

Authors

• Jongwoo Jeong, Washington University in St.Louis

• Boram Lee, London School of Economics