Jessica Gallardo
MIT Department: Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Prof. Noah Nathan
Research Supervisor: Jared Kalow
Undergraduate Institution: St. Edward’s University
Hometown: Dripping Springs, Texas
Website: LinkedIn
Biography
Jessica Gallardo is a McNair Scholar at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, double majoring in International Business and Marketing. She has presented at various research conferences, including the highly selective National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Long Beach, California. Recently, she completed an international marketing internship at the Texas Department of Agriculture, where she combined her knowledge of global economic markets and geopolitics. Furthermore, she interned at the World Affairs Council of Austin, allowing her to attend events such as the annual Texas-EU Business Summit and meet international diplomats. This summer, Jessica is conducting research at the MIT Global Diversity Lab under the mentorship of Africanist Dr. Noah Nathan, and doing a Research Assistantship with doctoral candidate Jared Kalow. Her project focuses on how Sino-American foreign direct investment potentially influences African nations’ UN voting dynamics. Jessica plans to pursue a Political Science PhD with an emphasis on International Relations and International Political Economies. She hopes to continue researching the political repercussions of global investments (i.e., FDI, foreign aid, trade agreements, M&A etc.).
Abstract
United States vs. China’s FDI Rivalry in Africa: Examining African Nations’ UN Voting Behavior
Jessica Gallardo1
1Bill Munday School of Business, St. Edward’s University
In the last two decades, China has substantially increased its Belt and Road Initiative investment strategies in the African region, challenging the United States to compete and maintain its influence in Africa. Previous literature has claimed America and China are leveraging foreign financial assistance as a bargaining tool to assemble United Nations (UN) voting compliance. Nevertheless, previous scholarly literature fails to directly analyze the influence of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on UN voting dynamics, specifically focusing on African member nations. This research conducted a comparative case study analyzing how the United States’ versus China’s FDI in Africa potentially influences African nations’ support of UN votes in accordance with the investing country. Leveraging FDI datasets from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the China Africa Research Initiative, and a published ideal point UN voting dataset to empirically test the relationship between voting concessions and subsequent foreign investment amounts. Ultimately, no significant relationship was found between Chinese FDI and Chinese-aligned voting patterns, but a significant inverse relationship was discovered between American FDI and American voting agreement. This study contributes to further understanding the FDI Sino-American influence rivalry and its potential implications for undermining other developing countries’ independent voices and modern-day institutions.
