Foreign Influence as Constituency Cultivation

Ethan Kapstein, Scott Tyson and Audrye Wong
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Ethan Kapstein: Princeton University
Scott Tyson: Emory University
Audrye Wong: University of Southern California

Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) Working Papers from Empirical Studies of Conflict Project

Abstract: How do foreign agents, representing countries or other political actors, exert political influence in another country? While considerable theoretical and empirical attention are devoted to coercion (explicit or implicit) and corruption, other channels of political influence across countries have received far less consideration. In this article, we develop a novel theory of constituency cultivation, which is targeted investments by foreign actors that promote greater alignment between their interests and those of politically important groups/individuals in another country. We examine two key ingredients that influence constituency cultivation, pre-existing interest congruence and coordination salience (on decisions favoring the foreign actor). We show that increases in interest congruence and higher coordination salience reduce effort by a foreign actor on cultivating a constituency. Finally, we extend our theory to include corruption and show that it corresponds to a special case of equilibrium selection.

Keywords: China; Political Influence; Constituencies; Belt and Road Initiative; Lobbying; Southeast Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol and nep-sea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:esocpu:36

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