Citizen-focused strategic communication: Does UN radio persuade people to trust the peace operations in Mali?

Peace missions of the United Nations (UN) use radio communication to reach out to the citizens of their host countries. Does listening to UN radio augment or reduce citizens' trust in the peacekeepers and, if it has an effect, through which mechanisms? What are the impact of UN radio on value orientation or attitudes regarding the host government and its allies? Research on global governance started to scrutinize the surge in citizen-focused communication by international organizations (IOs), but how this communication actually influences citizens' perceptions and attitudes has remained under-explored. Similarly, the peacekeeping literature provides in-depth evidence on the origins and practicalities of communication by UN peace missions, but it finds that an evaluation of its effects is too ``difficult if not impossible.'' Building on research in social psychology and its insights on persuasive communication, which testify to the possibility of identifying mass media effects, I argue that listening to UN radio can strengthen trust in a UN peace mission through augmenting its perceived utility and compatible value orientations. However, persuasive effects are moderated by prior attitudes toward the UN. Moreover, by emphasizing international contributions to peace, UN communication may unintentionally lead citizens to perceive their government and non-liberal allies as less capable and trust-worthy. The project investigates these propositions with evidence from a randomized controlled trial embedded in a representative survey (N=700) of citizens in three large towns in Mali. Half of the respondents are randomly assigned to listen to information on UN radio (Micado FM), while the others listen to music on national radio (ORTM). The survey asks respondents to indicate their agreement with values propagated by the UN peace mission, their perception of its effectiveness and their trust in the peacekeepers as well as government authorities, agents, and allies. The analyses will estimate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) of listening to UN radio using linear regression. This pre-analysis plan describes the hypotheses, research design, planned data collection and analyses.