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oai:keep.lib.asu.edu:node-1982462024-12-23T18:01:48Zoai_pmh:alloai_pmh:repo_items

198246 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.198246 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2024 225 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses Text eng Yu, Weiwen Gilpin, Dawn Silcock, Bill Kwon, Kyounghee Welch, Eric Gamso, Jonas Arizona State University Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2024 Field of study: Journalism and Mass Communication This dissertation examines the international opinion on the U.S.-China trade war, which serves as a representative case in the context of significant international disputes and conflicts between the U.S. and China after the Cold War, to verify the real power of contemporary international opinion. Based on many studies on international opinion, this dissertation delves into the concept and significance, system, and evaluation of international opinion, providing a theoretical and methodological basis for this empirical study. This research collects relevant news articles from the websites of selected mainstream newspapers in six representative countries during the trade war, and uses network analysis to examine the opinion citation relationships among different actors as opinion sources and thematic analysis to identify key themes from relevant international opinion. In this way, it investigates the sources, components, and attitudes of relevant opinions in terms of different issues and across the process of the trade war in order to analyze the key actors, practical strategies, and actual effects of the opinion. The findings show that although some countries are more involved in international conflicts, traditional powers still play a more prominent role in relevant international opinion; by contrast, the role of international organizations is quite limited. Furthermore, despite the common belief that globalization, new media, and democracies are more conducive to public participation in international opinion, even in the U.S., elites, and especially decision-makers, are still more influential actors than the general public. In addition, while opinions in both democratic and authoritarian countries have more moral components, democratic countries like the U.S. are more effective in employing international opinion strategies—their moral components are usually exaggerated, while pragmatic components are more emphasized. What initially appears to be isolated unilateral trade extortion can be reversed by expanding the issues of national security and world order that concern more countries, while narrowing and focusing on key adversaries. From the perspective of third-party countries, regardless of their relationships or conflicts with the nations involved, their responses are mainly determined by their own interests. Meanwhile, international organizations, including intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, still struggle to fulfill their expected role as international mediators and arbitrators in conflicts between major powers. Communication International relations Actor Effect international opinion Power Strategy the U.S.-China trade war International Opinion Power in the U.S.-China Trade War: Actors, Strategies, and Effects