Diverting Domestic Turmoil

Ashani Amarasinghe

No 04-20, Monash Economics Working Papers from Monash University, Department of Economics

Abstract: When faced with intense domestic turmoil, governments may strategically en- gage in foreign interactions to divert the public's attention away from pressing do- mestic issues. I test this hypothesis for a globally representative sample of 190 countries, at the monthly level, over the years 1997-2014. Using textual data on media{reported events retrieved from the GDELT database, I find robust evidence that governments resort to diversionary tactics in times of domestic turmoil and that such diversion takes the form of verbally aggressive foreign interactions, typically targeted at `weak' countries and countries closely linked along religious, linguistic and geographic dimensions. Strategically important trade partners are unlikely to be victimized. These fndings suggest that diversionary foreign policy is, in fact, systematically practised by governments as a strategic tool, and that such diversion is exercised in a manner that may not lead to large scale costs or risks of retaliation.

Keywords: Diversionary foreign policy; domestic turmoil; football; connectivity. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F51 H77 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 68 pages
Date: 2020-12
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Journal Article: Diverting domestic turmoil (2022)
Working Paper: Diverting domestic turmoil (2021)
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