Framed National Images Change Policy Attitudes Among Targeted ForeignCitizens

• In Event: Possibilities and Limitations of Public and Face-to-Face Diplomacy

Abstract

The global information age has changed international politics in significant ways. National images have become increasingly relevant, and advances in information and communications technology have created growing opportunities for governments to shape foreign citizens’ views. However, we know relatively little about countries’ ability to project their national images in other countries and shift global public opinion about policy issues. In this paper, based on our survey experiment about a Russian medical donation to the United Statesduring the COVID-19 pandemic, we cast a broader light on an under-investigated, theoretically important aspect of transnational opinion formation—the effect of media framing on countries’ success in improving their national images abroad. We find that when a foreign country’s assistance is framed as sincerely motivated, it increases favorable foreign policy positions toward the donor country among citizens in the recipient country. But when the same assistance is framed as insincerely motivated, the positive effect is attenuated. Our findings have substantial implications for the literature on public opinion and international relations. They also have practical implications for how governments should think of their efforts to change national images and how political leaders can curb foreign influence on their citizens.

Authors

• Kasey Rhee

• Charles David Crabtree, Dartmouth College