The Pathology of Hard Propaganda

Authoritarian governments often impose crude and heavy-handed propaganda messages on society. Is such hard propaganda effective in sustaining authoritarian rule? With an original survey experiment featuring messages from China’s ongoing propaganda campaign, this study finds that hard propaganda can backfire and worsen citizens’ opinions of the regime, while at the same time signaling the state’s power and reducing citizens’ willingness to protest. Thus, hard propaganda can deter dissent and help maintain regime stability in the short term, but it can also decrease regime legitimacy and aggravate the government’s long-term prospects, especially when its power and control capacity do not keep up with propaganda.