In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

124 The Frontier of Loyalty tras, Gen. Walter Lopez, chief of the armed forces in Honduras, recaled : "He [McFarlane] got kind of mad, and said, okay, you have them here. You're supposed to be our allies. And he got up and was about to leave the table. He said, 'well, you only got two choices, it's either to go to Russia, [or] stay with us,' and that hurt us a lot."52 Exile Diplomacy: the Politics of Image Limited and alone though I was, and precisely because I was so, I had to climb to the heights and never then to come down. -Charles de Gaulle, War Memoirs, 1955 Since governments operate to satisfy their own political objectives, exiles attempt to convince those governments whose support they perceive as critical that their interests coincide with the exiles' cause. In general, negotiations between political agents are similar to economic relations in the market: both use cost-benefit analysis as a guideline. In economic relations the commodities exchanged are usually tangible and easily translated into monetary value. But the value of commodities exchanged in political relationships is often not easily identified. The packaging imagery of the commodities plays a critical role for both seller and buyer. Moreover, the commodities so transferred in economic transactions are most usually "cashed in" within a foreseeable term. The political commodities exchanged, on the other hand, often pay dividends only in the long term, if ever. The relatively intangible nature of political exchange is greatly pronounced in the case of political exiles qua sellers. Their assets usually exist only in the realm of their potential and quite possibly will never be realized. Therefore, in order to obtain credit from international actors, political exiles must prove especially good salesmen. Image, in this case, plays a critical role. One must ask oneself, how do political exiles sell their image so as to convince prospective buyers to act on their behalf without relinquishing critical aspects of their struggle? Or, in Robert Jervis's terms, how can political exiles "project their image on the cheap?"53 Jervis observed that there is a limited stock of images that international actors can project cheaply. Images in general are constrained by the fixed beliefs that both the presenter and the receiver hold in regard to themselves, their goals, and the risks they are willing to run, so the presenter can do little to get others to accept a desired image. Reality, or rather the receiver's beliefs about reality, can be altered only on rare occasions. Yet according to Jervis, there are two conditions whereby the limitations on the projector of images can be mod124 The Frontier of Loyalty tras, Gen. Walter Lopez, chief of the armed forces in Honduras, recaled : "He [McFarlane] got kind of mad, and said, okaYJ you have them here. You're supposed to be our allies. And he got up and was about to leave the table. He said, 'well, you only got two choices, it's either to go to Russia, [or] stay with us,' and that hurt us a lot."52 Exile Diplomacy: the Politics of Image Limited and alone though I was, and precisely because I was so, I had to climb to the heights and never then to come down. -Charles de Gaulle, War Memoirs, 1955 Since governments operate to satisfy their own political objectives, exiles attempt to convince those governments whose support they perceive as critical that their interests coincide with the exiles' cause. In general, negotiations between political agents are similar to economic relations in the market: both use cost-benefit analysis as a guideline. In economic relations the commodities exchanged are usually tangible and easily translated into monetary value. But the value of commodities exchanged in political relationships is often not easily identified. The packaging imagery of the commodities plays a critical role for both seller and buyer. Moreover, the commodities so transferred in economic transactions are most usually "cashed in" within a foreseeable term. The political commodities exchanged, on the other hand, often pay dividends only in the long term, if ever. The relatively intangible nature of political exchange is greatly pronounced in the case of political exiles qua sellers. Their assets usually exist only in the realm of their potential and quite possibly will never be realized. Therefore, in order to obtain credit from international actors, political exiles must prove especially good salesmen. Image, in this case, plays a critical role. One must ask oneself, how do political...

Share