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When Does Public Diplomacy Succeed? Evidence from China's `Wolf Warrior' Diplomats

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title When Does Public Diplomacy Succeed? Evidence from China's `Wolf Warrior' Diplomats
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/A1X8GJ
 
Creator Mattingly, Daniel
Sundquist, James
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description How does public diplomacy shape global public opinion? In this note, we theorize that positive public diplomacy that emphasizes aid and friendship works, while negative messages that criticize international rivals is ineffective. We conduct an experiment, to our knowledge the first of its kind, that randomly exposes Indian citizens to real Twitter messages from Chinese diplomats. We find that positive messages emphasizing aid and friendship improve perceptions of China, even in times of escalating violent conflict. However, ``Wolf Warrior" messages criticizing the United States for its political values are ineffective. We argue public diplomacy can be a useful tool for global powers, but that domestic political pressure can create a perverse dynamic in which diplomats highlight the least effective messages.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Public Diplomacy
 
Contributor Sundquist, James