Premium
Explaining External Perceptions: The EU and China in African Public Opinion
Author(s) -
Keuleers Floor
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.12231
Subject(s) - china , perception , political science , public opinion , function (biology) , dimension (graph theory) , public relations , development economics , psychology , law , economics , politics , biology , mathematics , neuroscience , evolutionary biology , pure mathematics
While the past decade has seen a remarkable growth in research on external perceptions of the EU, this literature remains characterized by three important gaps: highly uneven geographical coverage, lack of comparisons between the EU and other actors, and a near‐exclusive focus on description to the detriment of explanation. This article introduces a novel explanatory framework for perceptions research and applies this to popular perceptions of the EU and China in 19 Sub‐Saharan African countries, shedding light on a neglected dimension of the ‘traditional’ versus ‘emerging donors’ debate. It finds, first, that China has quickly succeeded in becoming more well‐known among African populations than the EU. Second, popular perceptions do not reflect the antagonism pervading the discourse on ‘emerging donors’, with both the EU and China enjoying broad‐based popular support. Finally, preferences are a function primarily of individual experiences and outlooks, refuting earlier claims on the importance of national‐level factors.