Why Do States (Bother to) Deceive? Managing Trust at Home and Abroad

Abstract

This chapter asks why do democratic states even bother try to deceive their own citizens as to certain foreign policies they practice, their motives and their consequences. Surely, a population schooled in realpolitik , or just garden variety cynicism , would not need to be gulled in any way, except authorities always believe that they do. This question presupposes not only that states craft ‘stories’ to disguise activities abroad but that they do so because they are more constrained than they will admit by an audience of non-elite actors. Theories derived from realpolitik make little allowance for such domestic ‘interference.’ Yet there is evidence that in democracies the role of mass publics in driving, curbing or modifying the conduct of foreign policy is a force, and explanatory factor, to reckon with.