The Logic of Images in International Relations

The subject of this book is a little-discussed aspect of international politics, the ways states can affect the images others have of them and thereby exercise influence without paying the high cost of altering their own major policies. Military and economic resources, the main instrumentalities of power, have been widely studied. Less has been written about the role of diplomatic skill, and the authors of this literature have rarely focused on the full range of techniques by which a state can influence the inferences others are making about it and have not explored in any detail the ways desired images, which may be accurate or inaccurate, not only supplement the more usual forms of power, but are indispensable for reaching certain goals.