IN SEARCH OF THE SOFT EFFECT: US SOFT POWER AND MENA STATES’ FOREIGN BEHAVIOUR

US foreign policy, Diplomacy, MENA, Israel, conflict

Research Mentor: Hashim Malallah ,
Department, College, Affiliation: Political Science, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: hm22o@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: open to all majors; political science is recommended.

Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

Why some Arab states signed normalization agreements with Israel while other Arab states did not? What explains variation in the behavior of Arab states toward Israel? The American role in altering the calculus of MENA regimes toward Israel is well observed and assumed, but rarely measured. In this research, I propose costly signal argument linking US high-level leader visits and in-person diplomacy to the behavior of MENA regimes toward Israel. I argue that more exchanged visits between US and MENA leaders are associated with more moderate behavior of MENA regimes toward Israel. My approach yields a cross-sectional time-series dataset using data on US diplomatic visits and measures of UNGA voting affinity, latent interstate hostility, and bilateral trade across 22 MENA countries from 1950 to 2020. I find considerable empirical support to the theoretical prediction: diplomatic visits correspond to decreasing distance between the UNGA ideal points of MENA states and Israel and increasing volumes of bilateral trade with Israel. I also find no evidence that these associations are conditional on the amount of received aid from the US as a compensatory material benefit. These findings advance new empirical knowledge about the scope and magnitude of American diplomacy in shaping the politics of the MENA region.

Research Tasks: data collection (mainly)
literature review

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Experience with Excel is recommended.