Role of Ideology in International Relations

Dr. Nikola Mirilovic, assistant professor, recently published a co-authored article with associate professor Dr. Myunghee Kim. The article appears in Political Studies titled “Ideology and Threat Perceptions: American Public Opinion toward China and Iran.”

The article examines what determines threat perceptions in the context of potential interstate conflict. The authors argue that ideological cleavages and issues usually regarded as domestic political matters have a systematic effect on international threat perceptions. Drs. Mirilovic and Kim test these claims using the 2012 American National Election Studies data about perceptions of American citizens of the economic and military rise of China, and of potential American responses to Iran’s nuclear program.