Comparative Analysis of South Korean and Mexican Views on the United States
Nae-Young Lee, Susan Minuskin · 평화연구 · 2007
The United States has become increasingly unpopular around the world. This paper is to examine and compare public views on the United States between South Korea and Mexico. Both countries have maintained special relationship with the United States, the world’s preeminent political, military and economic power. At the same time, both South Korea and Mexico share worries and fears of us dominance in bilateral relations due to the asymmetry of power and wealth. From the comparative analysis of the survey data, we can find overall similarities and minor differences between the views of Koreans and Mexicans regarding the United States. In general, Mexicans and Koreans share the negative views on current US leadership and the unilateral foreign policy of the Bush administration. Regarding the US role as a world policeman, however, Mexicans and South Koreans seem to have somewhat different views. While Mexican public and leaders show more negative attitudes toward the US role of the world policeman than the South Korean public and leaders. Despite generally negative views on assertive and unilateral foreign policy of the Bush administration, Mexicans and South Koreans tend to have favorable feelings towards the US and Americans. This result implies that we need to distinguish between critical views on American foreign policy and generally favorable attitudes on America and its citizens in both countries.