The rise of the Global South and perceptions of inequalityds

 The ‘Global South’ plays an increasingly important role in the global economy as the economic growth of countries such as China, the UAE, or India has outpaced growth in the relatively stagnant high-income economies. This project will focus on how people and policymakers perceive changes in global inequalities that result from the rise of the Global South and the relative decline of Western countries. Using survey data and survey experiments, it will examine how individuals both in the Global North and in the Global South respond to indicators for the rise of the Global South across economic, social, political domains. These indicators will cover both visible and concrete examples (such as the transfer of soccer stars to Saudi Arabia, or the rising sales of Chinese electric vehicles in Western markets) as well as more abstract examples of changing global hierarchies (e.g. statistics about relative shares in global GDP, or political indicators on successful cooperation across the BRICs countries). The working

hypothesis is that in the Global North, highlighting the rise of the Global South will increase perceptions of relative national status loss, support for status-preserving and nationalist policies, and less support for redistributional policies that benefit developing countries (e.g. in climate policy). For the Global South, such information is expected to intensify perceptions of relative national status gain, support for policies that enhance the international influence of Global South countries, but no impact on support for global redistribution in favor of the Global South. In both contexts, these effects are expected to be stronger for more concrete and visible indicators, and for respondents with nationalist leanings.