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Authoritarian Actors and Strategic Digital Information Operations: The New Age of Manipulation book cover

1st Edition

Authoritarian Actors and Strategic Digital Information Operations The New Age of Manipulation

Edited By Ihsan Yilmaz, Shahram Akbarzadeh Copyright 2026
316 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

316 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book explores the complex web of Strategic Digital Information Operations (SDIOs) – defined as deliberate efforts by state and non-state actors to manipulate public opinion and emotions using digital technologies – that intersect with political ambitions to create a complex environment ripe for manipulation. Drawing from extensive research and case studies, the book examines how actors... Read more

1. Goals, Practices and Impacts of Strategic Digital Information Operations 

Ihsan Yilmaz and Shahram Akbarzadeh

Part 1: Elections

2. A Comparative Analysis of Pakistan’s Digital Parties: Beyond Traditional Politics

Ramsha Jahangir

3. Dis/Misinformation, Visibility Politics, Populism, and Digital Information: An Analysis of Pre- and Post-2023 Nigerian General Elections

Najimdeen Ayoola Bakare

Part 2: Conspiracy Theories

4. The Persistence of Informational Manipulation and the Appropriation of Emerging Events: Conspiratorial Publics 

Katherine M. FitzGerald, Daniel Whelan-Shamy and Timothy Graham

5. The Role of Social Media in the Diffusion of Conspiracy Theories and the Consolidation of Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: The Case of Egypt

Ihsan Yilmaz, Ali Mamouri and Shahram Akbarzadeh    

Part 3: Digital Authoritarianism

6. #Propoganda: Manufacturing Consent through State Actors’ SDIOs in Thailand

Itsakul Unahakate

7. Turkish Government’s Domestic Digital Information Operations on X (Twitter), Democracy and Social Cohesion

Ihsan Yilmaz, Bulent Kenes and Nicholas Morieson

8. India’s Strategic Digital Information Operations

Ihsan Yilmaz and Chloe Smith

9. Media as a Tool for Strengthening Authoritarian and Populist Tendencies in Central European Countries: A Case Study of Hungary

Martin Solik and Jan Graf

Part 4: Transnational Dynamics

10. Iranian State-Sponsored Disinformation Against the Dissidents at Home and in the Diaspora

Shahram Akbarzadeh, Amin Naeni, Galib Bashirov and Ihsan Yilmaz

11. The Influence of the Kremlin in the Media Space of Western Balkan Countries: A Case Study of Serbia

Jan Graf and Martin Solik

12. The Transnationalisation of Strategic Digital Information Operations: Turkey and India

Ihsan Yilmaz, Priya Chacko, Susan de Groot Heupner and Anand Sreekumar

Part 5: Non-State Actors and Extremism

13. Differences in the Utilisation of Digital Tools for Information Operations between State and Non-State Actors

Mohamed Ibrahim

14. Alt-Right Ideology, Masculinity, and the Strategy of Information Operations: Understanding Digital Dissonance

Aiden Aylett, Toija Cinque and Jodi McAlister

15. Future Directions in Strategic Digital Information Operations and Warfare

Ihsan Yilmaz

Biography

Ihsan Yilmaz is Deputy Director (Research Development) at the Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Research Professor of Politics and International Affairs, and Chair in Islamic Studies at Deakin University, Australia.

Shahram Akbarzadeh is Director of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF) and Professor of Middle East Politics at Deakin University, Australia.

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