[TimorLesteStudies] Masters Thesis on Timor Sea Negotiations

[Jennifer Drysdale]

For copies of this thesis, please contact Ric Curnow on ric.curnow at email.com

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, MEDIA, AND THE TIMOR SEA 
NEGOTIATIONS, APRIL-AUGUST 2004
By Ric Curnow
A thesis submitted on 25 April 2006 for the 
Degree of Master of Arts (International 
Relations) in the Graduate Studies in 
International Affairs Program, Department of 
International Relations, Research School of 
Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University

Abstract
 From April to August 2004, the newly 
independent, poorly resourced state of East Timor 
mounted a vigorous and vitriolic campaign in the 
media of its most powerful neighbour, Australia. 
The campaign attacked the Australia government’s 
position in negotiations on resource exploitation 
and maritime border issues in the Timor Sea.
This thesis describes how East Timor extracted a 
benefit from this behaviour, which at first 
glance might seem foolhardy. To this end, it asks 
the question: How, and to what extent, can a 
smaller power leverage media to influence the 
policy of a greater power? Exploring this 
question, the thesis’s theoretical discussion 
intersects with current debates, particularly 
those concerning the nature of power, and 
demonstrates how attention to the exercise of 
power in and empowerment through media can inform 
IR theory. Its empirical discussion highlights 
this, by proposing three causal mechanisms 
operating through media that can influence 
foreign policy-makers by increasing the 
significance of public opinion to their policy 
decisions. The thesis then discusses factors 
enabling and constraining the mechanisms’ 
operation. This thesis explores the strategic use 
of media by a foreign agent in order to empower 
particular frames in a domestic public sphere, 
and in turn illustrates the mechanisms that link 
this media activity to policy shift. It 
demonstrates that power in international 
relations can no longer be adequately described 
in terms of unitary state actors and their 
material resources. It makes the case that IR 
scholarship will benefit from a direct engagement 
with media, its structures, and the power within them.

Contents
Declaration 

    i
Abstract 

    ii
INTRODUCTION 

    1
CHAPTER 
ONE 

    5
Media, Power and International Relations
CHAPTER 
TWO 

    30
Media and Mechanisms at work in International Relations
CHAPTER 
THREE 

    57
Factors Enabling and Constraining Media Leverage
CONCLUSION 

    71
POSTSCRIPT 

    76
REFERENCES 

    77