Authoritarian States and the Politics of Extraterritorial Image Management

Authoritarian states externalize their image management techniques for foreign publics in order to bolster the status of the state abroad and mitigate criticisms of it in international discourse. This can take many forms, ranging from relatively innocuous efforts like organizing a cultural event to more insidious tactics like threatening a critical dissident. This paper builds a theoretical framework to understand the dynamics of authoritarian states externalizing their image management. The paper answers three questions. First, what motivates autocracies to externalize image management? The paper argues that authoritarian states do so for both internal security (to bolster their domestic rule) and external security (to help build a friendlier international environment for their policies). Second, how do external image management strategies vary between states? Here the paper proposes a typology of authoritarian states based on their material power and ideological orientations. Third, what kind of tactics comprise extraterritorial authoritarian image management and what are the causal chains linking them to the state’s desired outcomes of internal/external security? To address this question, the paper draws on recent scholarship about “extraterritorial authoritarian practices” as well as “extraterritorial repression” to elaborate four sets of mechanisms. The mechanisms very along two dimensions: the nature of the tactic and the intended audience. These theoretical considerations provide the foundation for empirical examination. Empirically the paper focuses on the case of contemporary China and draws on semi-structured interviews with current and former foreign correspondents in China. The experiences of foreign correspondents in China provide unique and fine-grained insight into how a powerful authoritarian state attempts to shape messages about it delivered to international audiences. The concluding section looks to comparative inquiry, focusing on how other types of autocracies may differ or conform to the mechanisms discussed.