Image Management in Public Diplomacy
A Political Psychology Perspective
Doris A. Graber, U. of Illinois/Chicago
Professor: Political Science/Communication
What is Public Diplomacy?
• My definition:
“Government-sponsored activities
designed to persuade foreign publics
to hold favorable images about the
sponsoring nation’s nature and
policies and to soften or erase
unfavorable images.”
What is Image Management?
THREE MAJOR STEPS
1. Assessing what your target audience likes and
dislikes about your country.
2. Strengthening the ‘likes’ side of the ledger and
weakening the ‘dislike’ side.
Do so with words and deeds.
3. Avoid contradicting & disconfirming information.
Why Image Management is Crucial in
International Politics
• Bad images make co-existence & cooperation
difficult. They reduce policy effectiveness.
• Bad images increase fears about potentially
unfavorable economic or military developments.
• To cooperate successfully, China and USA must
pursue vigorous public diplomacy campaigns in
words and deeds.
Why Image Management is Difficult
Some Essential Requirements:
•
Assess current opinions of target audiences.
•
Know the causes/contributing events of current
views including local cultures, stereotypes.
•
Know local legal and political environments
likely to affect PD campaigns.
•
Overcome conflicting messages spreading
simultaneously in the Internet Age.
•
Cope with the Mirror Image effect.
Multiple Assessment Axes
Components of the Mix????
What Explains the End Product?
• ???????????????????????
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Nothing Succeeds like Success
Economic Benefits e.g. African development
Coping with Cognitive Dissonance??
Public Diplomacy Activities, e.g. Confucius
Institutes, Olympics, Trade Fairs, Nonintervention pledges; skip HR reports
• ???????????????????????????
Credit Public Diplomacy
• Joshua Kurlantzick, said in Charm
Offensive: How China's Soft Power is
Transforming the World (2007) that
• "China has drastically changed its image in
many parts of the world from dangerous to
benign. It may already be the preeminent
power in parts of Asia, and it could develop
China-centered spheres of influence in other
parts of the globe, like Central Asia or
Africa" p. 226) .
Favorable View of China, 2011
14 positive countries, 8 negative
80%
70%
Pakistan Kenya
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Russia
USA
Jordan
Germany
India
Turkey
Ukraine
Britain
Israel
Japan
Palestine
France
Brazil
Mexico
3
3
1
1
Indonesia Spain
Lithuania
Poland
Egypt
Lebanon
1
1
4
8
Favorable View of U.S. 2011
14 positive countries, 8 negative
30
%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
Japan
France
Britain
Russia
Lebanon
Egypt Turkey
China
Jordan
India
Palestine
Kenya Lithuania Germany Indonesia
Poland
Spain
Israel
Ukraine
Mexico
20%
10%
Pakistan
Brazil
2
4
5
3
3
0
1
4
Major Image Negatives:
Economic and Military Power
• My Searches for Matching Negative Images
of the U.S. were largely unsuccessful.
• Apologies!
• Patterns suggest that the ratings of China
and the U.S. are quite similar
Major Image Negatives:
Economic and Military Power
• Negative = 40% Econ; 63% Military
Fear of China’s Military Power
% tage of respondents to PEW Global Attitudes polls, Spring
2011 – in percentages
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Japan = 87
France = 83
U.S.A. = 79
Germany = 79
Russia = 74
Spain = 74
Britain = 71
Poland = 68
Turkey = 66
Israel = 66
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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•
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Lebanon = 57
Ukraine = 57
Mexico = 55
Jordan = 52
Brazil = 51
India = 50
Egypt = 48
Indonesia = 36
Kenya = 29
Pakistan = 5%
Fear of China’s Economic Power
% tage of respondents to PEW Global Attitudes polls, Spring
2011 – in percentages
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•
•
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Turkey = 64
France = 59
U.S.A. = 53
Germany = 50
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Mexico = 43
Poland = 46
Spain = 40
India = 40
Japan = 35
Lebanon = 29
Pakistan = 5
Barriers to Image Management Success
Psychological Hurdles:
Culture
• Established schema structures, including shared
collective memories and stereotypes.
• Cultural barriers to communication, e. g. taboos,
symbolic meanings.
• Cultural patterns of message framing, e.g. norms
of politeness, class distinctions, story-telling.
• Cultural differences in message meanings, e.g.
value labels like ‘family or ‘religion.’
Barriers to Image Management Success
Group Loyalties
• Ingroup/outgroup barriers weaken outgroup
images. Raise trust and credibility issues
• Differences in national identity, ethnic
identity, language, religion, gender
• Clashing value priorities
• Different body language (e.g. to convey
respect)
'Uncaring' Image of China & U.S,
Negative responses to "Does China Consider
Interests of Countries Like Yours?“, in %tages
(Source: PEW Global Attitudes polls in 24 countries, Spring
2008; blue figures show U.S. image in 2011)
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France = 82 68
Japan = 79
49
Spain = 77
81
Jordan = 74 77
Egypt = 72
79
Australia = 72
Britain = 71 60
--
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Argentina = 70
-S. Korea = 68
-Poland = 61 67
Germany = 59
44
U.S.A. = 56
24
Turkey = 55 83
Brazil = 46
49
Barriers to Image Management Success
Cognitive Hurdles
• Existing schemas, embedded in belief systems.
• People accept reinforcements and reject
refutations – cognitive dissonance issue.
• Competing messages usually weaken message
impact unless messages are mutually supportive.
Competing message can come from ingrained
beliefs, reports or experiences of events, news
media stories, entertainment media stories, etc.
Barriers to Image Management Success
Hostile Environments
• Powerful message competition from internal
government public relations efforts.
• Powerful message competition from external
government P.R. efforts.
• Distaste for actual past and present policies that
receive extensive media coverage.
• Growing tides of messages overwhelm individuals
and drown each other out.
Prognosis for Success of Public
Diplomacy Campaigns
• The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
surveyed five countries in 2008 – China, the
United States, Japan, South Korea, and
Vietnam. Respondents in each country
answered 40 to 60 questions about
economics, culture, human capital,
diplomacy and politics. The table shows
how China rated in various performance
realms based on a scale of 0 to 100.
China’s Performance Ratings in
5 Realms of Activities – 1-100 Scale
Econo- Human- Cultur- Diplomic
al
istic
matic
Political
USA
52
55
56
40
34
Japan
57
58
57
44
41
S. Korea 57
64
54
51
48
Indonesia 73
74
62
69
71
Vietnam 70
80
77
67
--
Important Lessons from the Ratings
• Diversity of ratings by countries shows that
image creation is interactive.
• Variances in ratings for various appraisal
dimensions show that images are multifaceted. Ratings of one facet do not
necessarily affect the ratings of other facets.
• The mindset of observers in each country is
crucial in shaping their images. Political
psychology provides essential insights.
Lessons from Actual PD Campaigns
• Reaching target audiences does not guarantee
accurate meaning transmission. It does not
guarantee persuasion.
• PD campaigns fail if they are poorly coordinated
with other policies that have image impacts.
Campaigns need repeats.
• Message competition from news and
entertainment media is difficult to beat.
• Changes are mostly domain-specific.