Replication Data for: Animosity, Amnesia, or Admiration? Mass Opinion around the World toward the Former Colonizer

Dataset contains country dyad-year observations. Main dependent variable of interest is an aggregated measure of citizens in home country i's attitudes toward target country j. Contains numerous independent variables that capture dyadic relationships. Abstract: Nearly all contemporary countries were colonized at some point in their history by a foreign power, but do citizens resent their former metropoles for these past colonial abuses? We exploit survey questions in which respondents were asked for their opinion of a named foreign country. Our analyses of responses from over 90 countries yields the surprising finding that today’s citizens are more favorable toward their country’s former colonizer—by two-fifths of a standard deviation—than they are toward other countries. Colonial history and experiences do not correlate with citizens’ evaluations of their former metropoles. Instead, contemporary monadic traits that make former metropoles liked around the world—especially their tendency to be democracies—as well as their relatively high volumes of trade with former colonies explain their popularity among citizens of their former colonies. We also illustrate and describe these patterns in two least-likely cases, Mexico and Zimbabwe. Our findings have important implications for understanding international soft power, an asset about which today’s states care deeply.