Nearly all contemporary countries were colonized at some point in their history by a foreign power, but do citizens resent their former metropoles for past colonial abuses? We exploit survey questions in which respondents were asked for their opinion of a named foreign country. Our analyses of responses from over ninety countries yield the surprising finding that today's citizens are more favourable toward their country's former colonizer-by 40 per cent of a standard deviation-than they are toward other countries. Contemporary monadic traits that make former metropoles liked around the world-especially their tendency to be democracies-as well as their relatively high volumes of trade with former colonies explain their popularity among citizens of their former colonies. We also illustrate and describe these patterns in two least-likely cases, Mexico and Zimbabwe. Our findings have important implications for understanding international soft power, an asset about which today's states care deeply.
CITATION STYLE
Baker, A., & Cupery, D. (2023). Animosity, Amnesia, or Admiration? Mass Opinion Around the World Toward the Former Colonizer. British Journal of Political Science, 53(4), 1132–1149. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123422000710
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.