THE REPUBLICAN TRUMP VOTER

World Affairs, Volume 186, Issue 3, Page 572-602, FALL 2023.
With its emphasis on anti-immigration rhetoric and actions, protectionism, as well as populism, Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party into a party that closely resembles populist radical right-wing parties in Europe. In this article, we first illustrate how the Republican Party has transformed into a radical right-wing party. Second, we examine the degree to which the Trump voter has the same or similar characteristics as the prototypical radical right-wing voter. To do so, we compare some key features of voters for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Trump voters. Through original survey research, we find that the two voter types are alike. Both AfD and Trump voters espouse anti-immigrant sentiment, reject globalization, and position themselves on the right on a left-right ideological scale. This implies that, both from a supply and demand side perspective, the Trump Republican Party has become a prototypical radical right-wing party.
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IN A SECURITY DILEMMA

World Affairs, Volume 186, Issue 3, Page 656-686, FALL 2023.
China's economic growth and related assertiveness are causing significant changes in the Asia Pacific strategic environment, producing policy responses from the region's major powers, and gaining linkage with 1914 Europe. This article revisits the analogy, made in 2014, between the Asia Pacific today and Europe of 1914 to theoretically explain Asia Pacific's strategic environment vis-à-vis China's rise and the responses of four Asia Pacific powers—the United States, Australia, India, and Japan. Using the notion of “security dilemma,” I argue that a perceived threat of China's newfound confidence expressed in military aggressions creates distrust, fear, and uncertainty in the Asia Pacific, resembling Germany and its ambitions in the first half of twentieth century Europe. However, the similarity does not necessarily mean that the two environments and periods would produce similar outcomes because the strategic conditions are different. Asia Pacific today is more constrained in alliances than twentieth century Europe. I conclude by critiquing the balance of power to propose a power-sharing mechanism in the region to ensure peace.
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