The Art of State Persuasion: Chinaâs Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes

Why do nations actively publicize previously overlooked disputes? And why does this domestic mobilization sometimes fail to result in aggressive policy measures? The Art of State Persuasion delves into China’s strategic use of state propaganda during crucial crisis events, particularly focusing on border disputes. Frances Wang aims to explain the diverse strategies employed in Chinese state media, analyzing why certain disputes are amplified while others are downplayed. This variation, as proposed, is contingent on the degree of alignment between Chinese state policy and public opinion. When public sentiment is more moderate than the state’s foreign policy objectives, the government initiates a ＂mobilization campaign.＂ Conversely, if public opinion is more hawkish than state policy, the authorities deploy a ＂pacification campaign＂ to mollify public sentiment.

Through a comprehensive examination of medium-N and case-study analyses, Wang elucidates these arguments. The research incorporates extensive textual analyses of media reports, interviews with officials and journalists, and archival data. The book also illuminates the mechanics of mobilization and pacification media campaigns, enabling policy makers to distinguish varying state foreign policy intentions. This book not only acknowledges the significance of public opinion but also illustrates how fluctuating public sentiment is delicately managed by the state through diverse discursive tactics. By highlighting the existence and relevance of pacification campaigns, The Art of State Persuasion enhances our understanding of propaganda, and challenges the traditional view of China’s propaganda as uniformly aggressive, bringing to light a more nuanced picture especially in the domain of foreign policy.

Frances Yaping Wang is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colgate University. She received her PhD in politics from the University of Virginia. She was previously an assistant professor at the Singapore Management University, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s International Security Center, a Minerva-United State Institute of Peace (USIP) Peace Scholar, a predoctoral fellow at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies of the George Washington University, and an editor/analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.