New Books in Political Science

Frances Yaping Wang, "The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Apr 6, 2025

Frances Yaping Wang, an assistant professor at Colgate University and a peace scholar, discusses her book on China's media strategies during international disputes. She explains how and why China amplifies or downplays certain conflicts based on public sentiment and state policy alignment. The conversation reveals insights into pacifying propaganda, highlighting how the government manages public opinion through strategic narratives. Wang's research emphasizes the dynamic interplay of state media and citizen sentiment within authoritarian regimes, reshaping our understanding of global diplomacy.

24:38

Episode guests

Frances Yaping Wang

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

China employs strategic media campaigns to either mobilize nationalistic sentiments for assertive foreign policies or pacify public anxiety when sentiments diverge.

The podcast explores how authoritarian regimes, like China, manipulate media narratives to align state objectives with fluctuating public opinion, maintaining control during interstate disputes.

Deep dives

The Strategic Use of Media in Territorial Conflicts

The discussion highlights the concept of state-led media campaigns and their strategic applications in territorial conflicts. Specifically, it points out that authoritarian states, such as China, often utilize media coverage to amplify or downplay certain disputes based on their political objectives. An example given is the South China Sea controversy, where the Chinese government skillfully shifts its media narrative to publicize encounters at sea while simultaneously controlling domestic perceptions through pacifying rhetoric. This strategic media use serves both as a tool to appease nationalistic sentiments and as a means to implement a more moderate foreign policy without losing domestic support.

Intro

1min

China's Media in Territorial Conflicts

7min

Pacifying Propaganda: Aligning State and Sentiment

7min

Understanding Public Opinion in Authoritarian Regimes

4min

Understanding Authoritarian Dynamics through Media and Propaganda

3min

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 (Oxford UP, 2024) 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.

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New Books in Political Science

Frances Yaping Wang, "The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes" (Oxford UP, 2024)

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Strategic Use of Media in Territorial Conflicts

Pacifying Public Opinion through Media Campaigns

Understanding Misalignment in Authoritarian States

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts