The Merze Tate Award is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor the best doctoral dissertation in the field of international relations, law, and politics.
Daegyeong (“D.G.”) Kim is an Inequality in America Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of California, San Diego in 2022. His research examines race in international politics, U.S.-China relations, and Asian American politics. In his current book project, D.G. proposes a new theoretical framework to understand why racial hierarchy and beliefs persist in international politics, shaping both great power rivalry and domestic racial order. His research has been featured or is forthcoming in Annual Review of Political Science, Journal of Experimental Political Science, and Political Science Quarterly.
Citation from the Award Committee:
Kim’s dissertation, “Anti-Asian Racism and the Racial Politics of U.S.-China Great Power Rivalry,” examines how anti-Asian racism in the U.S. affects views on U.S. foreign policy toward China and how it has a boomerang effect on Chinese foreign policy preferences toward the U.S. The author has developed new measures of anti-Asian racial attitudes and implemented multiple original surveys and survey experiments in the U.S. and China. The research reveals that anti-Asian sentiments in the United States leads to/ correlates with more hawkish policies towards China, and that these views increase Chinese public support for both hardline policies towards the U.S. and support for China’s political system. The novel theoretical and empirical approaches proposed by the dissertation to unpack the complex feedback loop between views on race, policy, and increased inter-state tensions can be applied to other contexts where race and international politics intertwine. Moreover, the research highlights yet another reason for policymakers to address domestic racism to decrease reflexive hawkishness in foreign relations.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Dr. Songying Fang (chair) of Rice University, Dr. John F. Garofano of U.S. Naval War College, and Dr. Margaret E. Peters of the University of California, Los Angeles.
