The rise of social media poses unprecedented challenges to authoritarian regimes seeking to influence public attitudes and behaviors. Authoritarian actors have adapted by shifting from tightly controlled, top-down messaging to more diffuse approaches on digital platforms.
This paper asks why autocrats commonly publicize redistributive policies and argues that such messaging helps sustain a façade of democracy. The authors' core claim is that many citizens understand democracy in terms of social equity rather than solely procedural rules; by highlighting equity-promoting policies, regimes can manipulate perceptions of how democratic they are. To evaluate this account, the study first analyzes extensive cross-national survey data to show that perceived social equity strongly predicts perceived democratic legitimacy. It then uses a preregistered survey experiment that exposes respondents in China to real-world redistributionist propaganda and finds that those exposed evaluated China’s democracy more positively. The authors present these findings as consistent with the argument that redistributionist propaganda can bolster apparent democratic legitimacy, while the abstract preserves the study's qualifications and avoids broader causal or generalizing claims beyond the reported analyses.
How do Chinese citizens respond to government rhetoric during international crises? This study uses two scenario-based survey experiments—one hypothetical and one that reminds respondents of recent events—to examine the impact of government statements and propaganda on approval for China's territorial and maritime policies.